Rick Kaplan, a University alumnus and CEO of MSNBC, will return to visit the University this week.

Kaplan has headed the cable news channel since last year. He previously was chief of CNN and also worked as a senior producer for ABC News.

For most of the week, Kaplan will be speaking to journalism classes. He is holding a “brown-bag” discussion Monday from noon until 1 p.m. in Room 160 of the English Building. He is to discuss “Big-Time Media: The Importance of Blogging and The Internet.” The brown-bag discussion is open to the public.

Kaplan has described himself as a proud alumnus who is willing to do everything he can to give back to the University. This is his second visit to campus within two years.

Lynn Holley, the internship placement coordinator for the College of Communications, said in an e-mail to journalism students that it is important for both broadcast and print journalism students to meet him.

“Building relations and contacts is the best possible thing you could do for your career and Rick is about the greatest contact you can come up with,” Holley said in the e-mail.