After 15 years of service, Alex Jones will step down from his position as director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy on July 1.

In an open letter announcing his departure, Jones, a 1982 Nieman Fellow, wrote, “My tenure at the Shorenstein Center’s helm has spanned perhaps the most tumultuous and challenging period in media history, and I am proud to say that the Center has evolved as those profound changes demanded. Indeed, the job I assumed in 2000 was to be Director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, and was focused almost entirely on traditional news. It is now the Shorenstein Center on Media – a reflection of the dizzying reality that in 2015 all forms of media affect politics and public policy.”

“As for the future,”  he added, “I am embarking on what in Cuba is known as ‘Third Life,’ meaning the rich and exciting period in which to pursue long-delayed projects, to study and learn, and to follow one’s own peculiar interests.”