Impact Editor Retires After Years of Shaping Stories

Janet Stewart.

“It’s been an absolute honor and a career highlight to steer Impact for the past seven years,” said Janet Stewart, who served as the principal writer and editor at the Institute on Community Integration (ICI). She was managing editor of Impact, the Institute's flagship publication.

Stewart retired in May and credits a 2018 fellowship with the University of Minnesota Advance Career initiative (UMAC) as the beginning of her job at ICI. The fellowship is a nine-month program for experienced professionals transitioning to new roles.

As part of her fellowship, Stewart interned at Lutheran Social Services, where she taught finance classes to mostly low-income women. During this internship, a colleague put a job description on her chair for an opening at ICI.

Stewart immediately thought the position was a good fit for her skill set and believed it was an opportunity to write stories that help people live better lives.

Before coming to the U of M, Stewart spent 15 years as a financial columnist and reporter for the Chicago Tribune. She was also a financial reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.

The opportunity to use journalism and storytelling to help shape public policy attracted Stewart to the Impact editor role. She says one of the best aspects of her job is assisting experts and storytellers. Stewart enjoys helping them reach a wider audience and share their information in a compelling, easy-to-understand manner.

“Impact is a unique model,” Stewart said. “We use people who are in the field to report stories, and we make sure to include the voices of the people who have lived experience with a topic.”

Stewart’s supervisor, director of marketing and communications, Jerry Smith, said her many contributions to ICI and Impact leave a lasting legacy.

“Janet has transformed our communications in ways that will endure well beyond her time,” Smith said. “Through her sharp journalistic instincts and deep commitment to telling meaningful, human stories, she elevated Impact from a well-regarded newsletter into an award-winning magazine and strengthened everything we produce. We’re deeply grateful for her contributions and the lasting mark she leaves on the Institute.”

Under Stewart’s guidance, Impact was awarded the 2025 American Association on Intellectual Disabilities historic preservation award in recognition of the publication’s exceptional accomplishments.

The first issue of Impact that Stewart edited highlighted self-advocacy for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities (IDD). “Getting a chance to hear directly from people living with IDD was really terrific,” Stewart said. Each issue of Impact includes an editor who has lived experience with a disability. This team member helps shape the magazine’s coverage and writes a story for Impact that often focuses on their personal experience.

Stewart is grateful she used her skills at ICI to help with what is often called “public service journalism.” She says it’s important to look at the issues people who have IDD face and to also look at the solutions to these problems. “Let’s make sure we know what’s working and translate this into action for people in the field to actually use,” Stewart said.

Stewart helped to select Greta Cunningham as the new managing editor of Impact. “I’m grateful Janet timed her retirement so she could help me learn my new role,” Cunningham said. “Janet is well-respected at ICI and, under her guidance, Impact flourished into an impressive publication. I’m honored to continue building on Janet’s strong foundation for the magazine.”

Stewart plans to continue writing in her retirement and looks forward to sharing personal stories and more finance tips.

As she enters retirement, Stewart said she’ll miss the people she’s met at ICI the most. “After years of being a freelance writer, I appreciated being part of a team again. I feel lucky I got to work at a place where you have a smile on your face each morning,” she said. “I also feel lucky that I helped people tell their stories.”