UNI to host first-ever visiting Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence
UNI to host first-ever visiting Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – For the first time, the University of Northern Iowa has been selected to host a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence. This program brings visiting scholars from abroad to U.S. colleges and universities, helping the institutions internationalize their curricula, campuses and surrounding communities, and diversify the educational experiences of their students, faculty, staff and stakeholders.
Arta Berisha, a distinguished, prize-winning journalist and an academic from Kosovo will bring her expertise to UNI’s Department of Communication and Media and the Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy. She is one of 43 Fulbright Scholars-in-Residence, and among 1,000 outstanding foreign faculty and professionals who will teach and pursue research in the United States for the 2024-2025 academic year through the worldwide Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program. This will be Berisha’s second time on UNI’s campus, following her time as a Fulbright Visiting Researcher in 2019.
Berisha, currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Leicester, was selected for the Fulbright award by the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Her research critically examines how external factors such as social media and the internet are transforming journalism, focusing on changes in news routines and the detrimental effects of fake news on the profession.
In UNI’s Department of Communication and Media, Berisha will be assisting with the Media and Power course on campus. She will also be collaborating with UNI professors Bettina Fabos (emeritus), Chris Martin and Catherine Palczewski on the final module of their "Media and Power" handbook that concerns misinformation in the media and the construction of truth. The new textbook is a product of UNI's Open Educational Resource initiative, which encourages instructors to develop free textbooks and other pedagogical content licensed with the permission to reuse, adapt and share widely. To this end, Berisha will adapt “Media and Power” for a Balkan audience.
Furthermore, she will be working with the Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy to create an international media literacy conference, and will be involved in other departmental activities throughout the year.
On Friday, Sept. 20 at noon, UNI scholars will be invited to meet Arta Berisha at the Center for Multicultural Education 109 on UNI’s campus.
Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbrighters exchange ideas, build people-to-people connections, and work to address complex global challenges. Notable Fulbrighters include 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 80 MacArthur Fellows, 41 heads of state or government, and thousands of leaders across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which has operated in over 160 countries worldwide.
For further information about the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State, please visit the Fulbright website or contact the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Press Office by email: ECA-Press@state.gov.
