Alex Russell

Alex Russell - Department Editor, Self & Society

Alex Russell covers the College's departments, centers and programs in many of the social sciences, including: Cognitive Science, Communication, Economics, History, International Relations, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, the Center for Mind and Brain, the Center for Poverty and Inequality Research and the Global Migration Center.

Russell has spent more than 10 years at UC Davis communicating social sciences research for uptake and impact through news and feature stories, policy briefs, reports, social media campaigns and other forms. He has served as a writer at the Graduate School of Management and led communications for the Center for Poverty and Inequality Research and the Institute for Social Sciences. Immediately prior to joining the College of Letters and Science, he served as communications lead for a $30 million federally funded research program in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences focused on international food security.

He received a bachelor's degree in literature from UC Santa Cruz and a master's degree in English from the UC Davis Graduate Creative Writing Program. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW).

students walking on a college campus

How Togetherness Makes the Undergrad Grind Worthwhile

  • by Alex Russell
For Katie Cohen, part of undergrad life is made up of “the grind.” Now in her second year on campus, Cohen, a sociology major and L&S Ambassador, has also learned that friendships are what make for more than just the basic college experience.
fish lures on a board

If a Social Media Post Has Any of These Ten Features, It’s Probably Clickbait

  • by Alex Russell
New research identified 10 key features of clickbait journalism on social media and compared its use between digital-native news media and legacy news media outlets. The study confirmed that digital-native media outlets are much more likely to use clickbait, and that it really does drive engagement in the form of likes and reposts, but may increase a decline in media trust.
Marianne Page, economist

From Research to Action on Poverty and Inequality

  • by Alex Russell
Marianne Page, a professor of economics, co-founded the UC Davis Center for Poverty and Inequality Research in 2010. Today, the center creates a wealth of research and outreach opportunities for its network of faculty affiliates and graduate students across the social sciences at UC Davis and beyond.
American flag on a flagpole

Political Polarization is Not Unique to the U.S., but its Causes Are

  • by Alex Russell
Hostility for people in opposing political parties in the U.S. has been increasing for decades. Research in political science is at the frontier of more detailed measures of polarization that show what drives those feelings. This research provides insight on what might change the course of the nation.
Group of students and their manager in an IT office

Connecting UC Women in IT

  • by Alex Russell
Emily Marwedel is a service desk analyst with L&S IT. In 2018, she and colleagues at UC Davis Health co-founded Womxn in Tech at UC Davis, a group dedicated to ensuring that issues surrounding women in technology are reviewed and discussed with a focus on making continuous improvements towards equity.