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Messitte did background research for her, off-camera interviews and sound bites from all manner of world leaders. “Words were this common thread,” he says. “I learned how to ask questions and edit video tape to accentuate the most important words.” When Messitte’s girlfriend — now wife — Julia took a job on Wall Street in New York City, Messitte followed. He worked for the United Nations, writing speeches for the Italian undersecretary general, while he finished coursework for his doctorate in political science from New York University. He also did free-lance work for ABC news, including “World News Tonight” with Peter Jennings. “All these jobs relate very much to words and the use of words,” he says. Messitte’s broad interests led him to consider careers such as being a lawyer or a foreign correspondent, but his focus on teaching and writing led him to education. “I had seen the best of my professors in college and graduate school who didn’t just stand up and preach but motivated people to do things outside of class and spurred me in new directions,” he says. “I thought I could be that kind of motivator for students.” In addition to teaching, Messitte has held administration positions. He was the first director of the Center for the Study of Democracy and held a tenure-track position in the political science department at St. Mary’s
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RIPON College
College of Maryland. In 2007, he was recruited to come to the University of Oklahoma by his longtime mentor, Boren, who now was president of that university. Messitte became dean of the College
of International Studies, served as vice provost for international programs and held the William J. Crowe Chair in geopolitics as a faculty member. He taught classes on American foreign policy and hosted an award-winning radio show, “World Views,” syndicated on National Public Radio (NPR). “In college, I’d been a disc jockey on Bowdoin College (Maine) radio,” he says. “I spun records and talked about stuff with my roommates. It was fun.” At Oklahoma, he proposed an international affairs program where he interviewed prominent personalities as they came through the area. “I just loved it,” he says. “I could sit down with policy makers and diplomats.” He interviewed the guest for 20 minutes, then had
faculty colleagues comment on the subject for 10 minutes. He says this provided publicity for the university and instructional material for the classroom. “It’s pure fun,” he says. “It’s something I would like to explore replicating in some form at Ripon.” Messitte also has written numerous articles and coedited the forthcoming book “Understanding the Global Community.” All these experiences add breadth and uniqueness to his ability to lead an institution, Messitte says. “A liberal arts college is this great place where people can project all their hopes, ambitions and ideas,”