By Sydney Nicol
The Mass Communication Department at the University of Liberia (UL) will tomorrow, Tuesday, March 3, 2020 receive as guest, a visiting Fulbright Specialist, Dr. Gregory Pitts, a professor and director in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media at Middle Tennessee State University in the United States.
Dr. Pitts, who is coming under the auspices of the U.S. Fulbright Specialist Program, will help the UL Mass Communication Department in many areas, including curriculum review, the holding of seminars for UL Mass Communication Faculty and students and Liberian journalists.
He is also expected to collaborate with the UL Mass Communication Department in carrying out a survey on perceived media credibility in Liberia.
Dr. Pitts is a four-time Fulbright beneficiary with a two-term tour in Ukraine, and one each in Zambia and Montenegro.
He earned his bachelor`s and master`s degrees in Communications and Journalism from the Auburn University, and earned his doctorate degree also in Communications and Journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
He has expressed joy in coming to Liberia and says he looks forward to learning and sharing ideas while in the country.
Meanwhile, the Chair of the University of Liberia Mass Communication Department, Euriahs Togar, says the visit of Dr. Pitts will boost activities at the department. Adding, “Dr. Pitts’ visit is one of several efforts we are making to improve the Mass Communication Department to bring quality to the learning experience of our students and to bring the department up to standard and on par with other communication departments in the region and elsewhere”. “We are aggressively pursuing faculty development opportunities, scholarship and exchange opportunities for our brightest students in the hope of having them join our faculty. “At the same time, we are seeking out qualified individuals, in and out of Liberia, to join our faculty”, Togar added. “The overarching goal is to bring quality to the classroom to help our students to meet with the rapidly emerging changes in the field of communication, to equip them well enough to cope with the multi-level challenges in the job field, and give them the tenacity they will need to excel in their academic pursuits”.
Mr. Togar concluded by extending gratitude to the US government through its embassy near Monrovia for the support, “without which this would not be possible considering the current financial strains facing the University of Liberia”.
The Fulbright Specialist Program, as part of the larger Fulbright Program, was established in 2001 by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).
The program pairs highly qualified U.S. academics and professionals with host institutions abroad to share their expertise, strengthen institutional linkages, hone their skills, gain international experience, and learn about other cultures while building capacity at their overseas host institutions.
Specialists are competitively selected from a wide range of professional and academic disciplines based on their knowledge, skill sets, and ability to make a significant contribution to projects overseas.
The University of Liberia Mass Communication is the first, as a department to benefit from the Fulbright Specialist Program.
The department was selected from among several others at the UL which submitted proposals for the program.