Eastern is constantly communicating important information to students, faculty, alumni, possible future panthers, and other friends of the University. This information must be accurate, readable, and clear. Leon Mire, Communications Coordinator at EIU, is responsible for overseeing, editing, and sometimes writing this communication on behalf of the university.

“There’s a lot that goes into things like scheduling emails and making sure they’re going to the right audience,” he said.

As an EIU alum, Mire established his professional editing skills here. He was enrolled in English courses such as Professional Editing and Technical Writing, which not only improved his abilities but pushed him to discover a passion.

“I noticed that I had a knack for attention to detail,” Mire stated. “I wasn’t just reading interesting things, I actually enjoyed the process.”

His enjoyment of his editorial aptitude drove him to apply it in his career. Before working at EIU, he became a professional editor at the Charleston-Mattoon local newspaper, The Journal Gazette, which was a productive experience.

Mire ultimately chose to work for EIU due to how the institution supported him greatly.

“I was using skills that I had developed here to further the mission of the university to help students the way the university helped me,” he said.

Mire works in communications broadly. Editing takes up 15-20% of his job, but it has been decreasing over time as his role evolves to work more with databases and webpages.

Most of his work is oriented to incoming students. He works through the mediums of email and texting. This is work he is usually tasked with writing himself, but since he is the highest authority, he is also tasked with self-editing.

“I know if I make a grammatical error, I’m going to be the one who knows it and fixes it.”

Mire also edits communication written by faculty members.

“I am checking them for grammatical consistency, but there’s also some technical stuff like making sure links are right or updated, make sure the information is matching the website, things like that,” he stated.

In the multitude of communications that Leon works with, certain university messages are critical as well as highly technical and detailed. This presents Leon with the task of educating himself on the interworkings of that department or program. One major example of this is the financial aid communications Leon oversees.

“I am taking this giant mess and untangling it and making it more understandable for the average teenager and their parent,” he stated.

The work is mentally challenging, but he finds it incredibly rewarding because it is extremely beneficial to the audience that he makes that information accessible.

While he finds this meticulous editing gratifying, some parts of his job of ensuring productive communication are tedious. He describes them feeling more like maintenance. Automating and learning the code of these processes helps Mire focus on more important tasks. This influences Mire to be excited for technological advances.

“I have an abundance mentality. If technology makes it so this part of my job is obsolete, then great! I get to have these other parts.”

Despite recent concerns about AI stealing jobs, Mire feels rather secure in his position. “I am never going to not be wanted for some of my skill,” he shared. He hopes that completing digital maintenance work will be helpful.

“It’s definitely a tool in the toolbox, rather than a replacement for what I do.”

Mire’s importance can be demonstrated by how he is always managing multiple projects at once. Most of his projects are electronic and edited with software such as Adobe Acrobat for PDFs and PRM, the special system EIU utilizes for email communication. Occasionally, when there are events, he oversees the physical program sheets and other printed information to ensure clarity and ease to the audience reading.

With continuing technical advancements, the technical aspect of Mire's job increases. “I think it’s going to continue in that direction,” Mire said. He finds that learning the processes of software in an organization allows an editor to be more efficient.

“English majors, especially professional writers, will do well to become proficient in the technology.”

Meghan Bentley is a sophomore at EIU majoring in English with a concentration in Professional Writing and a minor in Communication Studies. She hopes to work for a literary publishing house as an editor or for a non-profit agency as a grant writer.