Managing editor Lizzy Alspach will be The Diamondback’s 2025-26 editor in chief, the Maryland Media Inc. board announced Tuesday.
Alspach — a junior journalism and Spanish language, literatures and culture major — first joined The Diamondback as a freshman copy editor in August 2022 and became copy chief in December 2022. She has served as a managing editor since April 2023.
Alspach will take over the role on April 13 and will replace current editor in chief Apurva Mahajan.
“Lizzy stood out as the right person for this role in this moment,” Corey Dade, the president of Maryland Media’s board, said.
Outside of The Diamondback, Alspach works as an investigative data reporter for the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism and interned for The Baltimore Sun last summer.
Dade said Alspach’s experience on the managing desk over the past two years has taught her valuable lessons about how to lead a newsroom. She has both journalism and leadership experience, Dade said, along with the ability to bring The Diamondback into a new academic year.
“Lizzy understands the need to be adaptable and to be agile as a newsroom,” Dade said.
One of Alspach’s main priorities going into her term is improving the relationship between the newsroom and the campus community, she said. This includes having conversations with community members, making more Instagram reels with reporters and sharing the publication’s tip form QR codes, Alspach explained.
“I just want people to know that we’re a resource for accountability, for their information and for their conversation,” Alspach said. “That’s above all what The Diamondback is and what The Diamondback should be.”
Mahajan, a junior journalism and government and politics major, said Alspach has established herself as someone who takes initiative in the newsroom.
“She’s someone who I trust immensely just in terms of journalism,” Mahajan said. “I find myself turning to her a lot.”
Working for The Diamondback has given Alspach confidence and trust in herself, she said, which she hopes to pass on to the next generation of staff members.
Alspach also wants to ensure that The Diamondback’s staff diversity and news coverage represent the campus community.
“We’re a mirror,” Alspach said. “We have to be able to say we are doing our due diligence to make sure everybody feels represented, not just in our coverage, but in our staff, and feels comfortable talking to us.”
With uncertainty around the federal and state government, Alspach said it is important to localize broader issues and focus on local coverage. She also said it is crucial that the paper’s opinion desk fosters “conversation and thought” on campus.
Alspach displayed her passion and drive to improve The Diamondback, Mahajan said.
“She was just very clear in her goals and her vision for what she wanted The Diamondback to be,” Mahajan said.
