Robbins will take a position with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Continuing Studies.
Dean Robbins, who has worked at the Madison, Wisc., alt-weekly on and off (mostly on) since 1983, will take over as editor on Jan. 5. "Isthmus has been without an editor in chief since former editor Marc Eisen stepped down from that role in October 2007," writes publisher Vince O'Hern. "Since that time the paper has been guided by an editorial board, which was formed when Eisen relinquished editorial management to concentrate on writing." Robbins, who recently took a six-month leave from the paper to help it through tough economic times, will be the fourth editor in the paper's nearly 33-year history.
The Madison, Wis., alt-weekly is "looking at ways to reduce expenses like everybody has to," publisher Vince O'Hern tells the Capital Times. "Nothing is decided. It may involve some people taking leaves, and some people not being on staff anymore." News editor Bill Lueders says A&E editor Dean Robbins will take an unpaid six-month leave to tend to "personal projects and other work." Other than that, he says talk of any staff changes is premature. Isthmus employs 10 editorial staffers, and the total staff size is about three dozen, according to Lueders.
