Alexander Pyles

Alexander Pyles became the Philip Merrill College of Journalism associate dean for academic affairs in August 2023. He was elevated to the rank of senior lecturer in 2025. He leads the Merrill College master’s program, the college’s flexible and innovative curriculum, maintains academic integrity, and develops partnerships inside and outside the university.

Pyles joined the Merrill College faculty in 2019 as a lecturer and director of the audience engagement bureau for Capital News Service, the college’s student-staffed news organization with bureaus and news teams in Annapolis, Baltimore, College Park and Washington, D.C. He directed the audience engagement bureau until the end of 2023.

He helped student journalists use metrics, social media and other digital storytelling tools to maximize the audience for projects published by CNS and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. He also teaches related courses on interactive design and social media strategy.

An award-winning journalist and teacher, Pyles was Merrill College's communications manager before joining the full-time faculty in 2019 after teaching part time since 2012.

Previously, he was a reporter and editor for several news organizations.

Pyles was most recently an editor at The Baltimore Sun, where he managed coverage of the Maryland State House, Baltimore City Hall and elections. Before becoming The Sun’s government and politics editor, he led coverage of the NFL as an editor in the newspaper’s sports department.

Prior to that, Pyles was The (Maryland) Daily Record‘s State House reporter; a reporter, editor and photojournalist for AOL’s Patch.com; and a sportswriter for The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal, CBS Sports, Inside Lacrosse and other publications.

In 2018, he received the Philip Merrill Presidential Scholars Program Faculty Mentor award.

Pyles holds a master’s degree in journalism from Merrill College and bachelor’s degrees in English and media and communication studies from UMBC.

Degrees
B.A., UMBC
M.J., University of Maryland