Our Editors

Michael Himick, publisher and editor-in-chief

Michael Himick heads up KnowledgeNews. Michael used to be managing editor at Britannica.com, where he and a team of history, science, and culture editors invented online features for the world-famous Encyclopaedia Britannica. He used to be vice president and executive producer at e-newsletter giant LifeMinders, the firm that practically invented e-newsletters. He used to teach writing, edit history and humanities books, and write on business and finance. Now, he has the best job around--interacting with learners all over the world and discovering something new every day.

Steve Sampson, managing editor

Steve Sampson has written more articles for KnowledgeNews than anyone--and produced a host of world-class email newsletters. He produced the official e-newsletter of the Sydney Olympic Games, working on location to send daily features to fans in 150 countries. He's produced email newsletters to track daily news, provide weather updates, improve your health, bring your family closer together, and more. Before all that? Serious academic research. Steve taught writing at George Washington University and worked at the famed Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.

Colleen Kelly

Colleen Kelly worked as an editor at daily newspapers for a dozen years before plunging into online publishing. In fact, during her seven years at the Des Moines Register, she won multiple editing and headline-writing awards. Eventually, though, Colleen traded ink for pixels and became senior news producer at Britannica.com, spearheading encyclopedic efforts to give context to the news. She's done the same for e-learning pioneer Fathom.com and our KnowledgeNews.

Mark Diller

Mark Diller abandoned the pristine wilderness of Oregon for academic ivy, earning a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and a PhD in the history of religion from the University of Chicago. Yet publishing, and not professing, called. Foregoing the academic track, he became a senior editor at Britannica.com, where he produced Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions and wrote widely on religion, philosophy, and culture. Now Mark lives in Seattle and writes for KnowledgeNews.

Claire and Jeffery Vail

Claire and Jeffery Vail are KnowledgeNews's own married writing team. Claire earned master's degrees in both journalism and English literature, became a senior web producer for Fox News and the Washington Post, and wound up a director of content and product development for German media giant Bertelsmann. Jeff stayed for a PhD in English literature and became a professor of humanities at Boston University. Today, he teaches college students about the key plays and great books of western civilization.

Christopher Call

Christopher Call studied marine science at Boston University and earned a master's degree in biology from Loyola in Chicago, where he studied the invasion of the zebra mussel into the Great Lakes. So stuffed with science, he soon became a senior editor at Britannica.com, and wrote widely on popular science topics. Now Chris teaches biology and environmental science at Triton College, dives with dolphins at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, and writes for KnowledgeNews.