Journalism faculty, students from Croatia, Monte Negro collaborate
Hello from Dubrovnik, Croatia! I am here till July 1 as a visiting Fulbright scholar, teaching journalism at the University of Dubrovnik. I am writing to share some positive news from this area of the world.
Croatia and Monte Negro are neighboring countries, both part of the former Yugoslavia but both are independent nations today. In the early 1990s, the two countries were enemies. Monte Negro invaded the southern part of Croatia, and hard feelings still exist among some citizens of both countries.
However, this situation did not deter University of Dubrovnik journalism professor Stjepan Malovic from creating a collaboration in 2006 between journalism departments at his university and the University of Monte Negro, Podgorica. Students and faculty now meet twice a year to discuss current media topics.
This weekend (May 11-13, 2007) a conference between the two universities will be held near Kotor, Monte Negro. Two U.S. citizens who are frequent visitors to Croatia—Sherry Ricchiardi, an Indiana University at Indianapolis journalism professor, and her husband, deputy managing editor for photography at USA Today—helped organize this conference titled “Globalization or Localization of Media?” Both countries are in the state of transition. Of interest to organizers is how the media are functioning in these transitional nations.
Last month, from April 26-28, Monte Negro students and faculty visited Dubrovnik. Because hard feelings do still exist, a few Dubrovnik students did not participate. I did, though. Students from each university presented papers, and eventually, the students began to mingle. Faculty had no problems mingling—especially at a dinner in a typical Croatian restaurant.
Seeing the students mingle was a wonderful sight to see. The collaboration idea of Malovic’s can only help stop what’s left of the bad feelings between the two countries.
Lee Anne Peck