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The SUSI summer institute is funded by the U.S.

Department of State’s Study of the U.S. Branch Institute for International Journalism

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“Celebrating a Knowledge Based Global Community”

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Scholars learned about contemporary global

health communication research from Dr.

Petya Eckler via skype from Glasgow, UK and

Dr. Parul Jain, a health communication re-

searcher at Ohio University. The discussion

centered around media and health coverage.

Scholars were asked to brainstorm about the

ongoing media coverage of health issues in

their countries. Scholars shared some com-

mon concerns related to health coverage by

stating that media coverage is biased toward

dramatic accidents instead of ongoing major

diseases that effect the life and well being of

people. Scholar from Malawi tackled one of

his concerns in this regard. He informed that

overpopulation is a big problem in Malawi.

Health campaigns push contraception but

for a lot of people it conflicts with religion.

Dr. Jain showed 2 videos with safe sex

messages and further explained that she

found messages with testimonial more ef-

fective than impersonal numbers influenc-

ing safe sex attitude and intention. Follow-

ing the very insightful and engaging dis-

cussions, Ukrainian scholar presented

about health campaigns in her country.

She stated that in Ukraine both health

system and media focus more on treat-

ment and hospitalization rather than pre-

vention. In nutshell, these sessions provid-

ed scholars with an overview about the

global health communication research and

practices.

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After a long day of classes, scholars were invited to a beautiful farm

in Coolville, Ohio. Scholars tried the southern and Cajun delicacies. They were also fascinat-ed with baseball as well as football and volleyball. As July 17th coincided with Islamic Fest (Eid al Fitr), the fest was later celebrated that evening. Irfan Muhammad and Uma Shankar

Pandey, Pakistani and Indian scholars talked about the value of Eid for Muslim and per-formed “Eid Greeting/Hug” to show other scholars how it is practiced among Muslims.

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On Saturday, July 18th 2015, scholars visited Hopewell Culture National Historical

Park and Tecumseh Drama Outdoor Performance to learn more about the Native Ameri-

can and their history in the United States. This park is a United States national herit-

age with earthworks and burial mounds from the Hopewell culture, indigenous peoples.

Tecumseh Drama showcases Tecumseh who was a Native American leader of

the Shawnee. Unfortunately, due to heavy rain and thunderstorm Tecumseh perfor-

mance was cancelled for the day. However, scholars visited the museum and the

Hopewell Culture National Historic Park, where they learned about Native American

from tour guides.

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We do not miss a single opportunity when something can bring smile to

our scholars faces or sharing their happiness, especially when it comes

to celebrating their big day. SUSI Program along with scholars celebrated

Trung Chi Bui’s, Vietnamese scholar, birthday.

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Scholars learned about post-2015 Internation-

al Development Agenda and Communication

for Development from Vibert Cambridge. Dr.

Cambridge first reviewed the 17 Sustainable

Development Goals (SDG) including education,

gender equality, water, food security, energy,

etc. Later, he explained that the Millennium

Development Goals (MDG) did not work be-

cause it failed to address the root causes of

poverty, human rights and economic develop-

ment. Following Dr. Cambridge lecture, schol-

ars from Malawi and Botswana presented on

the uses of communication for development in

their countries. Motswana scholar presented

on how the radio is used as a useful means of

communication for development in Botswana.

Malawi scholar, presented on development

challenges in his country stating that cultural

and religious beliefs often pose challenges to

development.

Scholars also learned about media eco-

nomics in the United Stated from Hugh

Martin, co-editor Media Economics Jour-

nal. After the lecture, Greek scholar pre-

sented on media economics highlighting

the significance of entrepreneurship in

digital journalism in Greece.

Dan Farkas, Instructor of Strategic Com-

munication at Ohio University, lectured

on growth of PR field and its role on

journalism. The discussions on commu-

nication for development was very en-

gaging. The scholars raised many ques-

tions and discussed the development op-

portunities and challenges in their home

countries.

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Dr. Scott Titsworth, the Dean of Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University

hosted an indoor cookout for SUSI scholars. After meet and greet, he talked to schol-

ars about international programs in Scripps College of Communication. Scholars also

shared their research interest with the Dean.

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After a week of intensive discussions on

Global Health Communication, Commu-

nication for Development, Peace Jour-

nalism, Conflict Resolution and Leader-

ship, scholars were divided into several

groups to conduct a case study and

solve a global issue and present it to the

class as part of their conflict resolutions

assignment. This assignment was par-

ticularly designed to train scholars in

four ways: first, the problem solving pro-

cess; second, the decision making pro-

cess; third, leadership; fourth, team-

work. As expected, scholars have done a

great job working and coming up with

practical solutions for some conflicts

around the world. They also had a

chance to learn from other scholars'

comments and feedbacks at the end of

each presentation.

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