Alex Sweetman studied literature and film at New York University where he received his BA and went on to do his graduate work at the Program in Photographic Studies at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, New York. He received is MFA from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1975. He has taught photography and the history of photography at a number of schools and universities with major graduate photography programs including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, the University of Iowa, and has taught numerous workshops nationally as well as in Canada and Mexico. He has been involved in public art projects including a major installation at The Denver International Airport. He teaches in the Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices area at the University of Colorado, Boulder.