Jan (Gilarski) Touney got a lot out of her time at the Northern Star – she even found her husband, Tom, there.

“Tom worked in production,” Jan says. “We met sophomore year, started dating, and now we’ve been married 28 years. The Star offers a lot of opportunities, professionally and personally.”

Jan started working as a copy editor her first year of college, eventually moving up through the ranks to become editor in chief her final year.

During that year, the Star filed a lawsuit against the university to open a Budget Advisory Committee meeting that was scheduled to talk about possible cuts to faculty and staff. It eventually succeeded in an out-of-court settlement.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in 1975, Jan started working for the Herald & Review in Decatur, Ill. She covered Pope John Paul’s visit to Denver in 1993 and directed coverage of back-to-back tornadoes that hit Decatur in 1997.

Dave Dawson, the managing editor for the Herald & Review, says Jan always had the respect of not only the people she directly supervised, but also the people who worked over her and with her.

“She has a real spirit of getting things done, and not letting things get in her way,” Dawson says. “And she can be driven without being overbearing. I’m not sure I’ve worked with anyone I respected more or enjoyed working with more.”

Jan left the Herald & Review as associate editor, and moved to Iowa to become managing editor of the Quad-City Times in Davenport. Despite her ascension through the ranks, she hasn’t lost touch with the foundations of journalism.

“I will drop anything if a reporter wants to come in my office and talk stories,” she says.

She coordinated a project, “From Iraq to Iowa,” which looked at the impact of the Iraq war on communities across Iowa in March 2004. Jan also has trained and developed curriculum for assignment editors.

Jan said her time at the Northern Star is what stands out in her mind when thinking about college. In addition to her husband, she remains in contact with 20 to 25 people she met while working at the college paper. Bruce Gill’s daughter was the flower girl in Jan and Tom’s wedding.

“The Star is more than a newspaper,” she said. “What stands out the most is the teamwork and good journalism.”