Former Ohio University student Andy Alexander is back on campus and taking on a new role: visiting professional. Alexander is a veteran journalist whose career includes time as ombudsman at the Washington Post, the position of Washington bureau chief at Cox Newspapers and extensive travel across the globe.
Alexander currently teaches a media ethics class. His primary work at the university focuses on developing media innovation and entrepreneurship. He helped develop the Scripps Innovation Challenge, a program that centers on media innovation at the university. The work the challenge required motivated Alexander to return to OU.
“I’m very interested in the future of media. That’s been my entire life,” Alexander said. “I think the Scripps College of Communication is well-positioned to become even more respected nationally and so when they offered me these opportunities to be involved with media innovation I thought, ‘well that’s terrific.’”
In addition to the Scripps Innovation Challenge and classes, Alexander will speak at this year’s commencement ceremony on May 4 and will receive an honorary doctorate. He says he felt “flattered” to be asked to speak.
“Anytime you go to a university and they choose you to impart some words of wisdom, I think it’s a great honor,” Alexander explained. “It didn’t take much to get me to agree.”
Alexander advises Ohio University students to take advantage of their time at school because of the many available opportunities to learn.
“I’m impressed by the number of speakers, the expertise on campus, the renewed emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the university. I would say try to experience as much of it as you can,” Alexander said. “The second thing is to realize is that it’s a very competitive world. You can’t wait for things to come to you. You have to go out and see it. I would say for any students, at any university, I would say be proactive.”