2008 Alumni Awards

During Alumni Weekend 2008, three individuals will be honored as distinguished alumni. We are pleased to announce that Ruel W. Tyson, Jr., Class of 1953, Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Alex S. Jones, Class of 1968, Cambridge, Massachusetts are this year's recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Award. Additionally, Brian J. Hooper, Class of 1998, Washington, D.C. is this years recipient of the Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

Scroll down to read a short bio on each recipient.

Ruel W. Tyson, Jr.
Class of 1953
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

After graduation from W&L, Mr. Tyson obtained a Masters of Divinity from Yale. He is something of a living legend at UNC-Chapel Hill. He has taught and written extensively about Humanities, Ethics, and Philosophy. In 2002, he was honored as the Outstanding Postgraduate Faculty Member. He is the Founding Director of the UNC Institute for the Arts and Humanities. He retired from that position after twenty years in 2006 to an outpouring of praise, and generosity to that Institute. An academic leadership program in the Institute for the Arts and Humanities is being named for Mr. Tyson. He will celebrate his 55th Reunion in May.

Alex S. Jones
Class of 1968
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Mr. Jones has had a long and distinguished career in journalism. He covered the press for the New York Times between 1983 and 1992 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1987. In 1992, he left the Times to write The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has been a Neiman Fellow at Harvard, a host of National Public Radio’s “On The Media” and a Host and Executive Editor of PBS’s “Media Matters.” Mr. Jones is currently the Director of the Joan Shorenstein Center at Harvard. This research center is dedicated to exploring and illuminating the intersection of press, politics, and public policy. It strives to bridge the gap between journalists and scholars, and between them and the public. It is a national leader. Mr. Jones has served on the Boards of the International Center for Journalists, the Foundation of the Society of Professional Journalists, Harvard Magazine, Black Mountain Institute, and the Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet. Mr. Jones will celebrate his 40th Reunion in May.

Brian J. Hooper
Class of 1998
Washington, D.C.

Mr. Hooper graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, and with honors in 1998. Following graduation from W&L, he received a Rotary Scholarship and earned an M.Phil. in Literary Studies from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2000. While in Hong Kong, he worked as an Aide to Legislative Councillor Martin Lee, Chair of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong. He is a 2003 graduate of the Harvard Law School, where he was Executive Editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, President of the Harvard Federalist Society, and recipient of the Dean's Award for Community Leadership. After graduation, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable David B. Sentelle, Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Following his clerkship he worked as an appellate litigator at one of the premier telecommunications law firms, Wiley, Rein & Fielding LLP, from 2004 – 2007. For the last year, he has served as Advisor for Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism at the U.S. Department of State. He has served W&L as a Career Mentor, as the AAP Chairman of the Boston Alumni Chapter, and D.C. Alumni Chapter President since 2005. He will celebrate his 10th Reunion in May.