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Dr. Remus Pricopie, rector of the National University for Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest, Romania. |
Associate Director Assists Romanian Doctoral Program
Dr. Tudor Vlad, the associate director of the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research at the University of Georgia, worked with Romanian faculty in March in Bucharest to redesign the goals and the curriculum of the doctoral program in communication.
He was invited to assist in this process by Dr. Paul Dobrescu, former rector, and by Dr. Remus Pricopie, the elected rector of the National University for Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest.
The invitation was a result of collaboration between the Cox Center, a unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, and the College of Communication and Public Relations at the National University for Political and Administrative Studies.
The doctoral program has been in existence for four years, but it is being revised in response to new requirements in Romania and Europe for programs leading to a doctoral degree.
Under new regulations the Romanian doctoral program will require three years of study.
From March 26 through March 29 Dr. Vlad worked with Dr. Alina Bargaoanu, dean of the College of Communication, and with Dr. Nicoleta Corbu, vice-dean, in fashioning a revised curriculum.
In the first year curriculum two courses on methodology, one on communication theory, and one in statistics will be included.
In year two and year three, the students will have mentoring workshops, with the participation of Grady College faculty. The specializations will be in political communication, new media, public opinion research, intercultural communication, media research, and persuasive communication.
In each of these years the doctoral students will have to defend two chapters of their dissertation.
The students will be required to have at least two published articles and four accepted conference papers upon completion of their programs. They also will teach undergraduate classes.
Dr. Vlad met with Romanian doctoral students and explained why these changes are needed.
"The media industry has gone through dramatic changes in recent years," he said. "Journalism education and research have been challenged all over the world to reflect and even to anticipate these changes, so you will benefit from your professors' effort to modernize your program."
Dr. Corbu spent nine months in the Cox Center in 2008-2009 as a Fulbright Scholar.
While being in Bucharest, Dr. Vlad also worked with Drs. Pricopie and Dobrescu on planning a workshop in May at the National University for Political and Administrative Studies. The topic will be media coverage of elections.
The Cox Center will be a partner in that workshop.
"I am glad that our collaboration with the Cox International Center and the Grady College has grown every year," said Dr. Pricopie. "This is beneficial to our students and our faculty."
Dr. Pricopie said he hoped to be able to offer courses for Grady students at his university in the future.
