The Boston Globe – which recently lost the amazing Aaron Atencio to the San Diego Union-Tribune — announced the hire of one full-time and one part-time infographics artists this week.
David Schutz — deputy design director for news and graphics — sent us a copy of his official newsroom memo:
Monica Ulmanu will be joining us as a full-time artist.
She wrapped up her master’s in journalism at UNC last spring and a fantastic internship at the [New York] Times last week — the timing is excellent. Monica has been here on prestigious Fulbright scholarship from her home country of Romania. She’s very versatile, skilled in traditional graphics, 3D, animations using After Effects, and Flash. These are just the skills we were looking for, and her supervisors and colleagues at the Times all but said I would be stupid if I didn’t hire her.
She’s also incredibly bright, enthusiastic, and a terrific journalist. And to pile on the good news, she’s going to start in just two short weeks, Nov. 10.
Monica holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Bucharest and worked as a free-lance web designer and reporter. She moved to Chapel Hill in 2008, earned yet another advanced degree there this spring — in visual communication — and, like David says, has interned at the New York Times.
It’s difficult to post interactive graphics here in the blog. Here are screen caps of the start pages of a few of the ones in Monica’s portfolio:
Monica was a big part of UNC’s Powering a Nation project last year. Find that here.
Here is a sample of her print work. Click for a larger view:
Find her online portfolio here and her Twitter feed here.
David continues:
And Patrick Garvin will be coming on board as a part-time artist, working three full days [per week].
He’s coming from the Times-Union in Jacksonville, Florida, where he is a superb graphic artist and receives high accolades from his supervisors and the editor there. He is a great visual journalist, very experienced with reporting, writing, and data analysis. You can see much attention to detail in his work, a thoughtful approach, and clever executions.
He has some interactive experience but, just as importantly, he is desperate for a chance to learn more and practice what he’s already picked up. Patrick will be starting on Nov. 19.
A 2004 graduate of the University of Missouri, Patrick spent about a year-and-a-half at the Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Sun News. He joined the Times-Union in 2006.
A few samples of his work:
Find Patrick’s online portfolio here and his blog here.
David concludes:
I’m really excited for Monica and Patrick to start — they both are going to bring some new enthusiasm to what’s already a strong group of artists.
Congratulations Monica! We’re proud of you here at UNC.
Thank you, Terence! Proud to be part of UNC. I miss you all.
The Globe definitely made the right move in snatching up Monica – I worked with her while at UNC and was continually impressed with her professionalism, knowledge and ability to work with others. I can’t wait to see the stellar work she will inevitably produce there!