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Dr. Becker, Claudine Housen and |
Jamaican Reporter and Photographer Discusses Graduate Programs During Visit to Grady College
Claudine Housen, a reporter and photographer at the Jamaican media company, The Gleaner, discussed U.S. print and broadcast journalism and academic graduate programs in mass communication during a visit to the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication on May 1st.
The visit was funded through the Group Study Exchange (GSE) program of The Rotary Foundation. GSE is a cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40 and in the early years of their professional lives.
The entire program in Athens was organized by the Rotary Club of the Classic City of Athens.
The program at the University of Georgia was organized by the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, a unit of the Grady College.
The day in the Grady College included meetings with faculty, a visit to the Peabody Awards program and a tour of the TV studios.
Drs. Lee Becker and Tudor Vlad, director and assistant director of the Cox Center, discussed the
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Claudine Housen with Dr. Ann Hollifield from the Telecommunications Department. |
journalism education in the United States and some of the international programs of the Cox Center.
The Jamaican journalist also met Dr. Horace Newcomb, the director of the Peabody Awards program. She learned that these prestigious awards do not focus only on journalistic products, but also on entertainment and education.
“Our main criterion is excellence,” said Dr. Newcomb. “It can be in quality of the script or of the photography, in service to a community or just in an idea.”
Housen discussed with Dr. Ann Hollifield, associate professor in the Telecommunication Department, the changes in the media working environment. “Due to the extraordinary changes in the communication technologies, it is going to be increasingly important for the journalists to understand the role of continuing training,” said Dr. Hollifield. “We are trying to anticipate how new media will look like five or ten years from now - which is not an easy task, and to prepare our students for these challenges.”
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Dr. Becker, Claudine Housen and Dr. Vlad in the Cox Center. |
Dr. Hugh Martin, associate professor in the Journalism Department, told the Jamaican guest: “It is important to know what one wants to accomplish” before entering graduate study. “If you decide to return to school, think about what it will add to your knowledge and how those new skills would be useful to you.
David Hazinski, an associate professor in the Telecommunications Department, showed the TV studios to the Jamaican guest and talked about the type of equipment needed to teach students about broadcast journalism. He said having the best quality equipment was not crucial.
“I enjoyed very much my day in the Grady College,” said Claudine Housen to Drs. Becker and Vlad. “I took pictures everywhere in the building and I will share them with my colleagues in the Rotary exchange and at work. I would like to come again and learn more about options to study here.”
