Back in September of 2019, Chauncey Alexander '14 M'16 D’19, jokingly sent a tweet to Kamala Harris asking how he might get a job on the California senator’s presidential primary campaign.

“It’s no secret to anyone that knows me that my dream is to become president of the United States,” says Chauncey, who earned all three of his degrees — communication, organizational leadership, and instructional management and leadership — from RMU. “Ever since I was kid, that’s what I’ve seen myself doing.”

Fortunately for him, a fellow RMU alum saw the tweet and connected him with someone who worked on Harris’s campaign. A month later Chauncey moved to Waterloo, Iowa, where he began to progress through the election cycle, working first as regional organizing director for Michael Bloomberg’s campaign, then as digital engagement coordinator for the Democratic National Convention Committee, which in turn helped him transition to the digital team on the Biden-Harris campaign. 

Following the election, Chauncey worked as digital engagement manager for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Currently he lives in Washington, D.C., where he is serving as the special assistant for communication and outreach at the U.S. Department of Education. He hopes to use his background in communication and education to help other young people achieve their aspirations by making sure they have a voice.

Chauncey was extremely active during his time at RMU. He was RMU Pittsburgh Promise president, vice president of the Black Student Union, secretary of the Black Male Excellence Network, president of the Alpha Pi Alpha chapter of Phi Beta Sigma, a member of Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity, founder and president of the Intensity spoken word team, a Sentry staff writer, an RMU-TV producer, an FYSP Mentor, senior class president, and Homecoming king. He says being a part of all these groups and organizations taught him many lessons about himself, both as a leader and as a member of a team — lessons that he still applies to his work today.

As for his future career plans, Chauncey says in the short term he’d like to run a presidential campaign. “I really enjoy strategizing and empowering teams to do great things. I want to be a part of things that are bigger than me — projects that have the potential to change the world for the better.”