Bryan Alexander (futurist)

{{Infobox person

| name = Bryan Alexander

| image = File:Bryan Levitates (Again) (8863493899).jpg

| image_size =

| alt = "Bryan Alexander"

| caption = Bryan Alexander, 2013

| birth_name =

| birth_date = February 1967

| birth_place = New York City

| death_date =

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| nationality = American

| other_names =

| spouse = Ceredwyn Alexander

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| occupation = Futurist, author

| alma_mater = University of Michigan

| website = https://bryanalexander.org/

}}

Bryan Alexander is an American futurist and author who is a Georgetown University Senior Scholar and the creator of The Future of Higher Education Observatory. He is a contributor to the academic and popular culture conversation about higher education.{{cite web |last1=Harris |first1=Adam |title=Here's How Higher Education Dies |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/06/heres-how-higher-education-dies/561995/ |website=www.theatlantic.com |date=5 June 2018 |publisher=The Atlantic |access-date=22 May 2021}}{{cite web |title=How the Pandemic Could Transform Higher Ed |url=https://www.wsj.com/video/how-the-pandemic-could-transform-higher-ed/46B696B5-3D3A-42CF-A142-784A9B9D6438.html |website=www.wsj.com |access-date=22 May 2021}}{{cite web |title=Can Colleges And Universities Survive The Pandemic? |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/09/03/909424037/can-colleges-and-universities-survive-the-pandemic |website=www.npr.org |publisher=National Public Radio |access-date=23 May 2021}}{{cite web |title=Bryan Alexander |url=https://www.scup.org/bio/bryan-alexander/ |website=www.scup.org |publisher=Society for College and University Planning |access-date=23 May 2021}}

Early life and education

Bryan Alexander was born and raised in New York City. He earned his bachelors, masters, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan. He began his career as an assistant professor of English at Centenary College of Louisiana before moving to Vermont to lead the Center of Educational Technology at Middlebury College. He then worked for the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) as a senior director.{{Cite web |title=Georgetown University Faculty Directory |url=https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/0033600001rcq9iAAA/bryan-alexander |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=gufaculty360.georgetown.edu}}{{Cite web |title=2023 Symposium Program - International Association for Continuing Engineering Education |url=https://www.iacee.org/2023_symposium_program.php |access-date=2024-09-12 |website=www.iacee.org}}

Career

In 2013, Alexander began an independent consultancy as a higher education futurist.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

Alexander lived in rural Vermont in a house that used woodstoves for heat, for which he chopped and split wood. He adopted aspects of a homesteader or "prepper" lifestyle during this time. In 2018, 'Ozy' magazine referred to him as an "Ax-Wielding Futurist".{{cite web |last1=George |first1=Lorenzo |title=The Ax-Wielding Futurist Swinging for a Higher Ed Tech Revolution |url=https://www.ozy.com/the-new-and-the-next/the-ax-wielding-futurist-swinging-for-a-higher-ed-tech-revolution/86909/ |website=Ozy}}

One of Alexander's ideas is about the "academic queen sacrifice." Alexander argues that US higher education has been reducing the numbers and the power of academic workers, and this puts higher education in peril.{{cite web |last1=Paquette |first1=Gabriel |title=Can Higher Ed Save Itself? Business as usual won't solve the existential challenges we face. Will anything? |url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/can-higher-ed-save-itself |website=www.chronicle.com |publisher=Chronicle of Higher Education |access-date=29 May 2021}}

File:Bryan Alexander and Terri Givens 2022.png

Since 2016, Alexander has been hosting Future Trends Forum, a video conversation about the future of higher education.{{cite web |last1=Young |first1=Jeffrey R. |title=What Students Want Colleges to Know About COVID-19 Shutdowns |url=https://www.edsurge.com/news/2020-04-01-what-students-want-colleges-to-know-about-covid-19-shutdowns |website=www.edsurge.com |date=April 2020 |publisher=Ed Surge |access-date=5 September 2021}}

=Writing=

In Academia Next (2020), Alexander's work written before the COVID-19 pandemic, he describes the possibilities and challenges of a pandemic upon higher education,{{cite magazine |last1=Delbanco |first1=Andrew |title=The University Crisis Does the pandemic mark a breaking point? |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/society/american-universities-crisis/ |website=www.thenation.com |date=7 February 2022 |publisher=The Nation |access-date=9 February 2022}} and covers several trends including demographic transition, escalating economic inequality, rising campus costs and student debt, open education (OER, open access), increasing multimedia tools, platforms, content, creativity, and rising automation.{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Bryan |title=Academia Next: The Futures of Higher Education |date=2020 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore, MD |isbn=978-1421436425 |page=23|edition=1st}} In 2020 it received an award from the Association of Professional Futurists (APF);{{cite web|url=https://www.apf.org/page/MSFW|archive-date=2021-05-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522151546/https://www.apf.org/page/MSFW|title=Most Significant Futures Works.}} Alexander is one of nine members on the APF international board.{{cite web |title=APF Board |url=https://www.apf.org/page/APFBoard |website=apf.org |publisher=APF |access-date=22 May 2021}}

File:Bryan Alexander Bill McKibben Mark Rush 9 3 22.png, and Mark Rush, 2022]]

Universities on Fire was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in March 2023. A review said it has a "simple message: The climate crisis is real, there are fires everywhere, and 'it is up to us to choose if those will be flames of destruction or the lights of illumination.'”{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Donald |title='Universities on Fire' is brisk, inspiring and sobering |url=https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2023/07/universities-on-fire-is-brisk-inspiring-and-sobering/ |access-date=10 July 2023 |website= |date=5 July 2023 |publisher=Yale Climate Connections}}

External links

[https://bryanalexander.org/ Official website]

References

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:American futurologists

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:1967 births