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Vojislav Raonic poses in front of the library on the UGA campus. |
Montenegrin’s Visit Unexpected Outcome Of Three-Year Program at University of Belgrade
Vojislav Raonic’s visit to the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia in November was an unexpected outcome of a partnership involving the University of Georgia, the University of Belgrade and Clark Atlanta University.
Raonic traveled to Belgrade from his home in Podgorica, Montenegro, in May of 2005 to participate in a discussion of models of journalism education in United States and in Eastern and Central Europe.
Following the workshop on media education, Raonic expressed interest in collaborating with the Cox Center to focus on the creation of modern journalism curricula at the University of Podgorica and the Montenegro Media Institute.
The Cox Center put together a specialized program for Raonic, who spent 10 days at the University of Georgia and another four days in Atlanta visiting media organizations.
The visit of the Montenegrin journalist and journalism educator was funded by the Consulate of the United States of America in Montenegro and by the IREX Office in Montenegro.
During the first part of the visit, Raonic participated in graduate and undergraduate classes in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. He also met with 11 different Grady faculty and with the director and the executive director of the Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia.
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In addition, he met with the director of the Peabody Awards Program and visited The Red & Black, the UGA student newspaper.
“The classes that I observed and the discussions with Grady faculty will help me redesign the syllabi of our courses,” Raonic said. “In Montenegro, we will try to make compatible the academic journalism education and the training programs outside the university. Taking into consideration the limited resources that we have, I don’t see any reason why we should compete.”
After the 10 days at the University of Georgia, Raonic visited WSB-TV in Atlanta. He spent most of the time in the newsroom participating in the budget meetings, meeting with the news director, talking to reporters and visiting the studios.
“Everything was really interesting and utterly useful. I needed that quick come back to my basic profession as a TV journalist, this time, due to the highly advanced and very professional they crafted for me,” Raonic said.
During the a meeting at the Cox Center, Raonic, Dr. Lee Becker and Dr. Tudor Vlad, director and assistant director of the Cox Center, talked about the possibility of expanding the partnership between the Cox Center and the Montenegro Media Institute.
The trio agreed that the next goal should be to organize a workshop on media management training, with the participation of Montenegrin and U.S. mass communication faculty and journalists.
“When I was invited to participate in the workshop in Belgrade last spring, I had no idea that the program will eventually lead to a visit to the Grady College at the University of Georgia,” Vojislav Raonic said during his first meeting with Drs. Becker and Vlad.
The 2005 workshop in the Serbian capital was a part of a three-year project funded by a grant of $195,000 to the University of Georgia from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Total cost of the three-year project, including the contributions of the two universities, is more than $300,000.
The Department of Mass Media Arts at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta also is a partner in the project, which involves faculty exchanges in each of the three years of the project as well as workshops on journalism education, media management, and media and diversity.
The Cox Center is a unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
