History of the Dept. of Communication's International Initiatives

The Dept. of Communication's involvement in Poland began in September 1995. At the request of the Vice rector for International Contacts, Appalachian sent Dr. Frank Aycock to Gdansk to consult on the establishment of a journalism graduate program at the University of Gdansk and to study ways in which Appalachian could work with the university. At the same time, at the request of MP Longin Pastusiak, Dr. Aycock visited the Warsaw College of Communication and Media to study the college and to explore ways in which Appalachian could interact with it.

Dr. Aycock met with Waldemar Tlokinski, Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Gdansk, and with Ryszard Slugocki, Vice Rector for International Relations at Warsaw College of Communication and Media in September 1995. After Dr. Aycock's work with both the University of Gdansk and the Warsaw College of Communication and Media for a year, Appalachian began to move toward cooperation with both schools.

Appalachian Chancellor Frank Borkowski visited the University of Gdansk and the Warsaw College of Communication and Media in October 1996. The chancellor signed Appalachian's second agreement with a Polish university when he signed the agreement with the University of Gdansk. The chancellor made a subsequent trip to Poland in February 1997, after which he encouraged the Department of Communication to "adopt" (in his words) the College of Communication and Media and help them build their library holdings.

In summer 1997, the Department of Communication began its summer school program at the University of Gdansk under the coordination of Dr. Aycock when Drs. Pat Reighard, Terry Cole, Howard Dorgan, Nina-Jo Moore, Paul Gates, and David Spiceland delivered the first two-week sessions in July of that year. A year later, Dr. Moore assumed the coordinator's role and has continued in that position to present.

Contacts between the Department of Communication and the Warsaw College of Communication and Media continued. Ryszard Slugocki, Vice-Rector for International Contacts visited Appalachian in July 1997, and again in March 1998 with the President of the College, Barbara Okulicz-Slugocka. Dr. Aycock also continued his series of lectures and short courses throughout the time. The contacts culminated in the signing of a formal exchange agreement between Appalachian and the College in May 1998 during a visit to Poland by Appalachian Provost Harvey Durham and Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Clinton Parker.

It was also in 1997 that the department's first interns traveled to Warsaw to participate in a joint Appalachian State University/College of Communication and Media internship program that placed Appalachian students in Polish media firms. The program continues to today, and to date, 17 students have participated in the internship program during the past three summers.

In Summer 1999, Dr. Nina-Jo Moore initiated the department's first study-abroad to Poland when she took eight students on a four-week trip to the country. This was in addition to her coordinating the Gdansk Summer School for the second year.

Finally, Fall 1999 has seen the start of the faculty and student exchanges for the Department of Communication. Four students from the Warsaw College of Communication and Media spent the fall semester at Appalachian, while two Appalachian students will spend the year in Warsaw at the college. Further, the Department of Communication welcomed Mr. Marek Szopski from the College of Communication and Media as an exchange faculty, with Dr. Nina-Jo Moore taking Mr. Szopski's place at the Warsaw college.

Frank A. Aycock, Ph.D.
Department of Communication
E-Mail: aycockfa@appstate.edu

Site last updated: 8/31/99
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