The greening of an editor...

Ann Dowsett Johnston was largely credited with building the university ratings franchise for Maclean's magazine before leaving for a high profile, non-journalistic job at McGill University. This week, Patricia Best at the Globe and Mail published a short item about Johnston's departure from McGill, which said, in part:

Last week, public documents showed that Ann Dowsett Johnston, a former editor at Maclean’s magazine who took the post of vice-principal, development, alumni and university relations, in February, 2006, and departed 19 months later, was paid $439,788 in wages and benefits while there and $321,471.95 when she left.

She had been hired to lead the university’s major fundraising campaign, with a goal of raising $750-million by 2012, but left two months before its launch. A McGill spokesman declined to tell us why Ms. Dowsett Johnston left, citing confidentiality. But the corporate-style compensation package has surprised those in academic circles and been the talk of Montreal dinner parties.