Alex Miller, an Honors College senior, is a part of communities all over the Kent State University campus. When Alex started college at the tail-end of a global pandemic, he found that recent world events had made it difficult for students to connect to their peers. This didn’t stop Alex; as a Kent State student, Alex has sought opportunities to connect with his classmates and create communities as an Honors College student, member of the Honors College Leadership Academy, Kent State chapter Alpha Lambda Delta vice president, Kent State chapter American Institute for Graphic Artists vice president, Fusion magazine editor-in-chief and Resident Assistant.
Alex is a visual communication design (VCD) major from Wadsworth, Ohio with minors in photography and user experience design. Alex is one of 245 Honors College students across various Kent State majors focusing on design. Kent State’s design-related majors include fashion design, VCD, interior design, architecture, animation game design and more.
Alex’s career path began to take shape in high school when he joined the Wadsworth high school newspaper.
“I always carried a camera around with me as a kid,” Alex said. “I really liked writing as well, so I started [at the newspaper].” As Alex began to design the school newspaper, a spark was lit.
“I really fell in love with [design]. I liked bringing the stories to life visually,” he explained. “It was a perfect combination of all my different interests in technology and storytelling.”
When Alex visited Kent State during a high school journalism conference, he noticed its abundance of student-led media organizations. Seeing an opportunity to continue doing the media work that he loved, Alex applied to Kent State. Alex was not only accepted to the university, he was also awarded a competitive Wallace J. Hagedorn Scholarship in Photography.
The first community Alex joined at Kent State was the Honors College. Living in an Honors College Living-Learning Community in Centennial Court B (CCB) enabled Alex to quickly integrate himself with a community on campus, and Freshman Honors Colloquium enhanced his first-year experience by introducing him to honors students from different major areas.
As a freshman, Alex also joined Honors Leadership Academy (HLA), an year-long course that connects first-year Honors College students to leadership, learning and civic engagement opportunities on the Kent State campus and also, the Portage County area. Alex has had the opportunity to go on HLA service trips to Cincinnati and Washington D.C.
“The Honors Leadership Academy — and the Honors College in general — definitely helped me transition to living away from home and being in a new place,” Alex said. “Having that built-in community of other students who are driven and like-minded is so beneficial.”
Alex added another honors community to his roster when he joined Alpha Lambda Delta: The Honors Society for First-Year Academic Success (ALD) during his second semester at Kent State. Alex attended the ALD National Conference in Chicago and is currently the Kent State chapter ALD vice president.
Alex’s leadership experience in HLA motivated him to become a Resident Assistant (RA) in the Honors College Living-Learning Community in CCB during his sophomore year at Kent State.
“I was interested in continuing what I experienced in the Honors College Living-Learning Community,” Alex said. “My favorite part was planning the social events because they would bring all my residents together.”
During his junior year, Alex was firmly entrenched in his VCD major classes. There, he noticed a lack of community among his fellow VCD majors and endeavored to change that.
“Coming out of COVID, people weren't really talking to each other,” Alex shared. “They kind of just went to class, but I felt like we could build more of a community and just get to know each other better.”
Alex helped start and became vice president of the Kent State chapter of the American Institute for Graphic Artists (AIGA), a design club that offers social events and professor-led design workshops for VCD majors. The club traveled to New York City last year, where members had the opportunity to visit a trade show and explore the city. During this spring semester, Alex and his fellow club members will be traveling to Dallas to attend a design conference.
This past fall 2024, Alex’s continued involvement with the Kent State Leadership Center introduced him to the Flash Fellows mentorship program. Flash Fellows is a year-long program that pairs students with a professional mentor in their field of study for monthly meetings. Alex’s assigned mentor, Christine Nelson, owns a growing photography business.
“It's been cool to see another creative that has been a student, like me, and then transitioned into the professional world, but decided later that she wanted to go a different route,” Alex explained. “It's great to see that option of owning your own business.”
Despite his many commitments, Alex has stayed true to his original passion for newspaper design. Alex has been on the staff of The Burr Magazine, The Kent Stater newspaper and Fusion Magazine. This year, he is the editor-in-chief of Fusion magazine, Kent State’s only student-run LGBTQ+ magazine.
About Fusion Magazine, Alex said: “We have such a special community of students. We all have similar experiences, but we're also able to learn a lot from each other and figure out how to best tell stories that represent our community at Kent State.”
“That's kind of a common thread throughout all my experiences at Kent State — having these different communities of people and learning not just in the classroom but also learning from all my peers.”
Alex has been learning off the Kent State campus as well. For the past two summers, Alex has participated in design internships at large, well-known companies. Alex’s first internship was with SpartanNash in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he worked on internal creative design projects. In his second internship with Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati, Alex was focused on product development and design.
Alex came away from these experiences with essential industry connections and a clearer picture of what he wants to do professionally. After he graduates in May 2025, Alex aims to join a design agency.
For more information about the Honors College at Kent State, visit the Honors College website or email honors@kent.edu. For more information about majoring in visual communication design, visit the School of Visual Communication Design website.
PHOTO CAPTION 1: Alex Miller taking photos at his summer internship with Procter and Gamble.
PHOTO CAPTION 2: Alex Miller and his Honors College peers at an HLA event for Martha's Table.
Media Contact: Stephanie Moskal, smoskal@kent.edu, 330-672-2312