Ryun Patterson
Then: Entertainment editor | The Oklahoma Daily |1996
Now: Editor | Morningstar.com in Chicago

This mysterious OU symbol was not the only thing Ryun Patterson discovered (or created) on the shores of Cambodia. He also found his bride and the journalism career that changed his life.

From a columnist and entertainment editor at The Daily to editor of a financial service Web site in Chicago, Ryun said he took a different path than most of his peers.

“It took me a while to realize what was going on,” Ryun said.

After graduating in December of 1996, Ryun started as a general assignment reporter for The Daily Ardmoreite in Ardmore. But the homesickness that sent him back to Wisconsin wasn’t enough to keep him from his big opportunity. While working at a paper near Chicago, Ryun was offered a copy-editing position at the Cambodia Daily.

“I answered an ad looking for copy editors with all the skills that I had had since working for The Daily. He hired me on the spot,” Ryun said. “While a lot of people had the skills, no one had had the daily experience that I had. I attribute a lot of that to Student Media.”

Ryun found himself amongst the journalistic heroes of Asia. His publisher had been Newsweek’s Tokyo bureau chief for 20 years and was the only person ever to interview Japan’s Emperor Hirohito.

“It was one of those jobs that we made a difference in a nation on a daily basis,” Ryun said. “We did all the things that you get into journalism to do.”

Ryun felt like his work really was “helping out the little guys.” After five defining years in Cambodia, during which he met and married his wife, Ryun returned to the United States in 2004.

Transitioning was tough, both for him and his wife. Ryun found U.S. newspapers in a comparatively sad state. He saw less opportunity to make a difference the way he could in Cambodia, but found his niche in finance with the Morningstar.

“Now I get to learn about how the financial side of the world operates,” Ryun said.

On a recent visit to Cambodia, Ryun left OU’s logo in the sand, leaving a small impression compared the one his time in Cambodia has left on his life.