Monday, Wednesday, Friday 10–11 am
MA, Auburn University
BA, Auburn University
A published writer for more than 30 years, Neal Reid is a lecturer in the School of Communication and Journalism at Auburn University, his alma mater. A third-generation Auburn graduate, Reid teaches Multimedia Writing for Public Relations, Digital Style and Design in Public Relations Messages and Sports and Public Relations. He also has taught Newswriting for the journalism department and has spent more than 25 years working in the media relations and journalism fields.
Most recently, he was a senior editor in the university's Office of Communications and Marketing. As senior editor, Reid was tasked with national media strategy and pitching, writing and editing news and feature articles and collaborating with campus communications and marketing staff to promote the university, its students, faculty and staff. In addition, he covered university events, set up media interviews and helped distribute press releases and advisories to state, regional and national media.
After graduating from Auburn, Reid worked as a media relations manager at the Ladies Professional Golf Association from 1998-2004. He went on to serve as editor of the ProRodeo Sports News magazine — the official publication for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association — from 2004-11, then ran a highly successful full-time freelance writing business from 2011-15.
Reid was chosen to work as an Olympic Information Service (OIS) sports reporter for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, spending nine weeks covering those global events with an elite team of journalists. He also worked for OIS as a sports reporter at the 2024 Paris Games, covering shooting, wrestling, boxing, canoe sprint, cycling and weightlifting.
Reid, an Opelika, Alabama, native, served as media relations manager at Las Vegas Motor Speedway from 2015-20, working numerous NASCAR and NHRA events, before returning to the South. He has written for The Associated Press, USA Today, Newsday, ESPN.com, ESPNW.com, Colorado Springs Gazette, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Denver Post, Oakland Tribune and Colorado Springs Style magazine, among others.
Reid is president of the East Alabama Chapter of the Public Relations Council of Alabama and also is a faculty adviser for Auburn’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). He and his wife, Carrie, live in Montgomery.