For the third year in a row, the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting at the School of Communication and Journalism (SoCJ) will host two visiting fellows. The visitors are part of an international program designed to strengthen fellows’ media, communications, and leadership skills in their home countries.
Eman Buirat is a lawyer and also works as a project coordinator for the “Young Reporters Fostering Youth Community Development” project at Wattan Media Network, an independent and professional organization. She has various responsibilities within this project, including coordinating workshops and training sessions, and assisting the production team with content, communication, and other tasks. Buirat lives in Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinian Territories.
Dinar Dina Karamani is a communication lecturer at ARS University and also serves as a media advisor for local media platforms at @inforck. She is a member of the Association of Higher Education in Communication Studies (ASPIKOM Jawa Barat) and comes to Stony Brook from Bandung, Indonesia. At Stony Brook, Karamani plans to expand her knowledge of political communication, media literacy, and community engagement.
“The Colvin Center is delighted to host Eman and Dinar for the coming semester,” said Sarah Baxter, director of the center and a visiting professor of international journalism. “We work to support international journalists and media professionals, and to give our undergraduate and graduate students a chance to learn from and about the challenges of working in media at home and abroad.”
The two media professionals will be at Stony Brook until Thanksgiving when they will return to their homes.
Buirat and Karamani come to Stony Brook through the IREX Community Solutions Program, an international fellowship program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government, supported in its implementation by IREX.
The Community Solutions Program aids human development by empowering youth, cultivating leaders, strengthening institutions, and extending access to quality education and information. It facilitates intercultural exchanges to foster more inclusive societies.
“Communication and exchanges like these can help people find common ground, mutual understanding and collaborative solutions across cultures,” said Laura Lindenfeld, dean of SoCJ. “It’s an honor to host Eman and Dinar for the coming months.”
Previously, the Colvin Center hosted visitors from Nepal, Ukraine, Moldova. Following these visits SoCJ students were able to visit Moldova most recently Nepal.