Students and faculty from five continents meet each summer at the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change to design media studies curricula used around the world.
Hofstra Abroad: The Salzburg Experience “Hofstra Abroad” features faculty members and students engaged in exciting academic endeavors outside the United States. If you have a colleague or student whom you would like to see featured, please e-mail Carol Fletcher at carol.fletcher@hofstra.edu. In summer 2010, Dani Newman, then a Hofstra senior, spent three weeks living in the Schloss Leopoldskron, the famous palace from The Sound of Music. Newman was participating in the Salzburg Academy on Media and Global Change, where she met students from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Mexico, China, and other countries around the world, many of whom were doing extraordinary things. “It was so inspiring to hear firsthand from a couple running a traveling radio station in Jordan, constantly being chased by government officials for keeping the citizens of the nation informed,” Newman recalled. The Salzburg Academy is an initiative of the Salzburg Global Seminar and the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda (ICMPA), directed by media studies professor Paul Mihailidis. It unites 60 students and 12 faculty members from five continents to discuss the media’s role in culture, change and global citizenship. “Meeting people from such diverse places around the world was incredible,” said Javier Neira, a student at Pontifical Catholic University of Chile who attended the academy in summer 2009.
by JADE KEENA
Students at the Salzburg Academy work together in small groups throughout the three weeks to develop learning modules covering six topics: social media, covering conflict, agenda setting, freedom of the press, civic participation, and framing. The modules act as an online map of the issue, providing a multimedia exploration of each topic complete with resources and assignments.
never really want to go anywhere other than the planned trips,” said Dr. Mihailidis.
The modules become a Global Media Literacy curriculum, complete with lesson plans, used in more than 100 countries. All the modules are available at the Salzburg Academy’s website, salzburg.umd.edu.
“It’s hard to choose a specific moment as my favorite,” said Neira. “The meals with everyone, the piano concert, the final dinner and the party, our trips to Vienna and Munich, they were all such incredible experiences.”
Dr. Mihailidis explained that the Salzburg Academy is not a typical classroom setting. Students at the academy spend their days working on the modules in small groups. Each group has two faculty advisers who help them explore the issue and build their module.
The Salzburg Academy is a cultural experience for the faculty members as well as the students. The program has 12 faculty members from universities around the world, including Syracuse University, Pontifica Universidad Catolica in Argentina, Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, and Quaid-i-Azam University in Pakistan.
After their work is done, students and faculty members spend time in the Bier Stube, a cellar with pool tables, music, and a bar. Students also hang out outside on the terrace, where discussion of the global media and the work the students are doing does not stop. “The dialogue usually continues on the terrace because the students’ engagement is so high,” Dr. Mihailidis said. Students have the weekends free, but the faculty plan optional trips. Many of these trips are non-academic, but are culturally enriching. The group visits castles and fortresses, goes to the Alps, and takes a trip to Dachau, a former concentration camp in Munich. “After three days, the students 8
The academy also invites guest speakers to engage in dialogue with the students. In past years, the academy has heard from actress and political activist Vanessa Redgrave, author Richard Ford, and playwright Tom Stoppard.
Faculty members get together to design the core program for the academy, but they do not develop a strict plan. “We let the students drive the curriculum,” said Dr. Mihailidis. “The group that comes in is so dynamic that we try not to stifle them with a regimented program.” Students and faculty come together from around the world to work toward the same goal – a chance for the group to help change the world. “It’s a space like no other space,” said Dr. Mihailidis. Jade Keena is a Hofstra junior majoring in public relations and creative writing.