Fellowship Honors Dean Brown, Encourages Overseas Study

Published: November 30, 2004

Brown, the first recipient of the fellowship, will teach London J-School course for the 2005 summer semester.

The School of Journalism has announced the creation of the Trevor R. Brown International Teaching and Learning Fellowship/Scholarship, established to honor J-School Dean Trevor Brown, who will retire as dean after the current school year.

The fellowship was created to encourage the J-School's continued participation in IU's Overseas Study Program by financially supporting the J-School faculty member chosen to teach the summer journalism course in London. For the past five summers, the School has worked with the Overseas Study Program and the Institute for the International Education of Students in London to offer the journalism course.

Brown has also accepted the offer to become the first Trevor R. Brown Fellow for the 2005 summer session. He will be the fifth faculty member in six years to teach the London course, preceded by Bonnie Brownlee, undergraduate associate dean, who taught the course twice, and professors Michael Evans, Chris Ogan and Steve Raymer.

A Strong Advocate

Always a strong advocate of overseas study, Brown said he was "enormously flattered" by the creation of the fellowship in his name. "I thought it was a wonderful idea. I had been thinking of doing something similar for my own philanthropy, and so was delighted to hear of it," he said. Brown said the study abroad programs are an important supplement to IU's curriculum, which requires students to take courses in foreign languages and culture. "It is in this spirit that we encourage study abroad," said Brown. "Contemporary journalists must be very aware that we live in an increasingly global world."

The J-School Goes Abroad

Deadline for applications for this summer's program are due Feb. 2, 2005.

To apply (beginning Jan. 1, 2005), click here.

The J-School worked for years to secure an overseas journalism course. For three summers in the early '90s, J-School professor Claude Cookman taught a journalism course in Paris, but the program struggled to find students with both the language skills and the financial resources to spend a summer in France.

Soon after the Paris course was abandoned, the Overseas Study Program approached the J-School about teaching a journalism course in London. "Our original ambition with overseas study was to get people into languages and cultures that were not as close to us as England might be," said Brown. "But we felt at least we could join in a well-established program and give our students at least some sense of the international news world."

Growing Interest

Brown said it can sometimes be a challenge to recruit students for the summer London program, but interest has grown, thanks in part to positive word-of-mouth. "There has been a happy mix of significant and interesting overseas experiences for the students and courses that contribute to the requirements of their majors," said Brown.

The J-School is also in the process of acquiring funding for an undergraduate student's participation in the London program.