Ten international journalists and communicators at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication are visiting students and faculty at Yavapai College in central Arizona Friday for a daylong event on globalization and international cooperation.
The international mid-career professionals at Cronkite are part of the prestigious Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, an initiative of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administered by the Institute of International Education. At Yavapai College’s Prescott campus, the Humphrey Fellows will participate in a classroom discussion on religion, interact with faculty and students in a public forum and watch the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games.
The event is part of the Humphrey Associate Campus Partnership Program, which fosters partnerships and engages people from various nations in cross-cultural exchanges. It aims to establish alliances between Humphrey host campuses and colleges, universities and community colleges, especially those with significant minority populations or those in rural areas that serve students who may not regularly have opportunities to interact with international visitors.
“Our relationship with the Humphrey Fellowship Program benefits both colleges,” said Penny Wills, Yavapai College president. “It gives our students the rare opportunity to interact with and gain a deeper appreciation of multiple cultures from around the world. Our international friends learn about this uniquely American phenomenon, community colleges, from one of the best in the country.”
Cronkite Associate Professor B. William Silcock, director of Cronkite Global Initiatives and curator of the Humphrey Fellowship Program at ASU, said the visit gives the fellows the opportunity to learn more about U.S. higher education institutions and the communities they serve.
“Bringing our friends and colleagues — the Cronkite Humphrey Fellows — to Yavapai College is an extraordinary opportunity to connect citizens of the world at a world class college,” Silcock said. “An added bonus is being there on the opening day of the 2014 Olympics — a chance for the Cronkite School to bring the Olympic spirit to our friends around the state.”
The Humphrey Fellows are leading TV reporters, public relations specialists and newspaper editors in their home countries, which include Bangladesh, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Croatia, El Salvador, Malawi, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turkey. During their 10 months at Cronkite, they study journalism, receive leadership training and forge professional affiliations with news organizations in Arizona and across the country.
Yavapai College is a community college based in Prescott, Ariz., with six campuses in Yavapai County. It offers certificates and associate degrees in 76 areas of study as well as nationally recognized educational and training programs. The Yavapai name comes from the indigenous group that originally populated the region.
The Cronkite School is one of the nation’s premier journalism schools, grounding students in the time-honored media values espoused by its namesake, Walter Cronkite. It has been recognized as a leader and innovator among mass communication educators nationwide by entities including The New York Times, The Times of London, American Journalism Review and multiple journalism foundations.