Journalists from around the world will spend the year studying at ASU as part of a program designed to advance their professional skills.
The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is the second journalism school in the nation selected for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, which brings a group of 10 mid-career journalists from a variety of countries to the school.
The program is partly funded and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and is designed for mid-career professionals from all over the world to advance their skills in a particular profession, said Bill Silcock, a journalism professor and curator of the program.
“Not every university has a Humphrey program,” Silcock said. “It’s pretty prestigious. It takes a lot of infrastructure [and] support.”
The fellowship program includes participants from Bangladesh, China, Croatia, Mongolia, Macedonia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
“They just have these amazing stories and insights, and they bring more of an international perspective to the school,” said Kristin Gilger, associate dean of the journalism school. “We’re only a few weeks into it, but I think the more diversity, thought, culture and background that we can bring to the school [will] make it a richer experience for the students.”
The 2010-2011 school year is the first of five 10-month sessions that the Humphrey program will provide. A new set of mid-career journalists will arrive every session, Silcock said.
Both Gilger and Silcock believe the program will be beneficial to both the participants and the ASU students and faculty.
“I know some of the faculty are interested in having them come in as guest speakers in their classes to share their experiences and skills,” Gilger said. “I know the faculty will engage with them, but I think it’s going to make a difference in the school.”
The participants will be in the same classes alongside undergraduate and graduate students at the journalism school. The Humphrey fellows have just begun classes this week, and it will not take long for them to make an impact on the students, Gilger said.
“You actually need these people to come from these countries to understand somebody’s family who’s been through devastating floods from Pakistan or meet a journalist who has been tortured by the Taliban,” Silcock said. “We don’t ever really understand what it’s like to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes from another country, so this gives us the chance.”
Journalism graduate student Brandon Quester is one student who has had positive interactions with the Humphrey fellows.
“It’s been a phenomenal experience getting to share culture,” Quester said. “It can help to teach people about other professionals in different parts of the world.”
Each of the fellows has a unique, diverse background that allows them to prosper in the journalism industry in their individual countries. Humphrey fellow Mukesh Ropeta is a broadcast journalist from Pakistan who has 13 years of experience reporting in his country, including reporting on a devastating flood in Pakistan in 2005.
“There were thousands of people displaced,” Ropeta said. “My family [was] displaced, my city [was] underwater, my home [was] under the water. I was out of my house, out of my city [for] 40 days.”
Ropeta and the other participants have been journalists for many years and therefore have many other experiences to share with the journalism student body and faculty, Gilger said.
The program is just getting underway. This year’s participants will be at the journalism school until May, Silcock said.
Reach the reporter at cottens@asu.edu
