From the Editor

Football and philosophy. Both are alive and well at Old Dominion University, as you will learn from articles in this issue. Monarch quarterback Taylor Heinicke winning the Walter Payton Award - the highest honor bestowed upon a player in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) - capped a phenomenally successful 2012 season in which the team finished 11-2 and made it to the elite eight of the FCS playoffs. Most of you have read about on-the-field accomplishments of Heinicke and his teammates, but you are probably not as familiar with the young quarterback's background and what sort of student he is off the field. We asked Rich Radford, the former Virginian-Pilot sportswriter who now is a Monarch football radio commentator, to give us Heinicke in full profile, and that's what you get on page 58.

Brendan O'Hallarn, the ODU media relations specialist who often writes for the magazine, also takes a probing look at what Monarch football - the modern era of which began only in 2009 - has come to mean for the university as a whole. It's amazing what a successful football program can do to promote campus spirit, and how it can pump up alumni and community interest in the school.

Campus spirit isn't all about sports, of course. Exceptional teachers create intellectual ferment and excitement among students, and play an important role in building lasting bridges between students and the college or university they attend. One teacher filling this bill on the ODU campus is D.E. Wittkower, a young assistant professor of philosophy, who is the subject of this issue's cover article. He calls himself a philosopher of technology, but others on campus call him the Facebook philosopher. His grasp of social media and where the world is headed with communication technologies has captivated his students, and thousands more who read his layman friendly articles and books, or follow him on social media networks.

With some articles and photo spreads in this issue you will see quick response (QR) codes, the boxy matrixes that can be read by smart phones and link you to bonus content. In the coming months, you will see additional ways we will augment Monarch print content with fresh words and pictures posted online.

I hope all of the content in this issue appeals to you. Feel free to contact me at jraper@odu.edu if you have questions, comments or suggestions.