Chip Chandler is the Senior Communications Specialist at West Texas A&M University. Chandler is responsible for a range of communication-related tasks. He serves as the primary external media contact, managing interview requests and facilitating connections with specialists. He also pitches University news to local journalists and writes news releases. In addition, he handles campus emails, contributes to faculty and staff newsletters and assists in marketing efforts.

Chandler grew up and graduated from Canadian. He later attended South Western Oklahoma State University, where he pursued journalism. Chandler attributes his inspiration to pursue a career in journalism to The Canadian Record Newspaper.

“The editor when I was a kid was Ben Ezzell, and was a giant in Texas journalism,” Chandler said. “I really, truly admired him when I was a kid.”

Outside of work, Chandler loves movies, especially those up for Oscars. Chandler used to work at the Amarillo Globe-News, where he began an entertainment section. He wrote movie reviews that got nominated for top Oscars categories.

“I kept getting more and more ambitious; I started trying to see every film nominated for the Oscars, which is usually in the neighborhood of 50 to 55 films, including all the short films, international films and documentaries,” Chandler said. “People who do this, it’s called the Oscar death race because you’re just trying to plow through. You only have about six weeks by the time the nominations are announced and the awards ceremony.”

Chandler is also a physical media collector. More particularly, collecting movies on Blu-ray or DVD.

“I have an app that tracks my entire movie collection,” Chandler said. “I can put in there if I loaned it out to somebody. I have a giant spinner as well as stacks of films; I always ask, ‘Do I own that movie?’ because I can’t remember now that I have more than 2,000 movies, both physical and digital.”