Stanford grad student tapped for 2011 Pearl Internship

Stanford graduate student Alexandra Wexler has been awarded the 2011 Daniel Pearl Memorial Journalism Internship, which will have her working in a foreign Wall Street Journal bureau this summer.

Wexler is working toward a master’s degree in communication, specializing in journalism, which she expects to complete in June.

The internship was established to commemorate the work and ideals of Pearl, a Stanford graduate and Wall Street Journal foreign correspondent who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.

In an essay written as part of the application process, Wexler noted that "the most interesting pieces of journalism for me are those that tell the story of someone ordinary and outside the limelight. Their stories touch our lives because they are just like you and me – ordinary people living in the same everyday world."

Wexler, from New York City, previously held internships at ABC Eyewitness News in Durham, N.C., and the Durham Herald-Sun. Her writing also has appeared in GlobalPost.com during a stint in South Africa. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University.

Pearl, a 1985 graduate of Stanford's Department of Communication, was kidnapped in Karachi on Jan. 23, 2002, while working on a story retracing the steps of "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. A month later, on Feb. 21, his captors released a videotape of his slaying. He was 38.

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