Heikes held an informal meeting with literary nonfiction students and a working lunch with student journalists at the Oregon Daily Emerald, where he was editor in 1974-1975.

"Drex's visit and his involvement in classes with so many students is indicative of his longtime support of and interest in the School and the Emerald," says SOJC Dean Tim Gleason.

After the terrorist attacks last September 11, Heikes was sent to New York City to supervise coverage there by more than 30 Times reporters and photographers. Heikes was then sent on to the Washington Bureau to help with foreign affairs coverage until the war began in Afghanistan. He offered students an insider view of covering September 11th and the challenges of following a major story as it develops over an extended time.

Professor John Russial says that Heikes' experience offered students another level of understanding of the work they may be doing one day. "Drex is editing at a very high level at the Los Angeles Times Magazine. His visit exposed students to a level of interaction with reporters that they don't normally see in class work."

Heikes gained that experience during 27 years as a print journalist. Before becoming executive editor of Los Angeles Times Magazine in 1998, he spent six years at The Times Washington Bureau, where he directed coverage of foreign affairs, presidential campaigns, the Supreme Court and the Justice Department. Heikes has been a reporter, city editor and managing editor for newspapers in New York, Alaska and California.

But perhaps as impressive as Heikes' resume is his approach to the work he does.

"He is a very thoughtful journalist," Gleason says. "Drex is reflective about the business and able to put things in a context that offers students so much more than a simple list of experiences."

Heikes' work has been chosen twice as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and he won the 1980 C.B. Blethen award for investigative reporting.