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, Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, the Center for Mind and Brain, the Center for Poverty and Inequality Research and the Global Migration Center.

Since 2012, Russell has communicated UC Davis 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 B.A. Literature from UC Santa Cruz and a M.A. in English from the UC Davis Graduate Creative Writing Program. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW).

Full Portfolio

American flags on a wall

What Was the American Dream?

  • by Alex Russell and Maria Sestito
The American Dream as both idea and ideal, for all its complications, has had an undeniably powerful role in shaping values and aspirations in the U.S. and far beyond its borders. We spoke with faculty and students in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis who represent a wealth of knowledge and perspectives that help us think about American society’s past, present and continuing potential. 
Large building in the middle of the frame is the tomb of Humayun, a 16th century Mughal emperor.

New Book Upends Ideas of Slavery and Individualism in 16th Century India

  • by Alex Russell
Historian Ali Anooshahr’s new book Slavery in the Early Mughal World: The Life and Thoughts of Jawhar Aftabachi (1520s–1580s) upends conventional thinking about the extent of slavery in the Mughal Empire. It also charts the rise of individualism in India, an idea previously considered exclusive to Western civilization.