By Yvonne Oh, IPDGC Program Coordinator
The Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (IPDGC) has inaugurated a Visiting Scholar program this year. We will welcome and host up to four visitors annually whose research advances scholarship and public understanding of the subject matters central to IPDGC’s mission. The Visiting Scholars become part of the Institute’s academic community while pursuing their own research projects. The purpose of this program is to give the university and IPDGC greater international exposure, while enriching our students with education beyond the classroom.
Although this is our first year, we will welcome up to four Scholars. The first two have already arrived at GW.
Tran Nguyen Khang is a professor in the Faculty of International Relations at University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, is on a Fulbright fellowship to conduct research into “The construction of American Soft Power through Museum Diplomacy and its implication for Vietnam” over the 2022-2023 academic year. Khang teaches Globalization, Global Issues, Power in International Relations, and Intercultural Communication at USSH.
Khang is here for the academic year to explore how the United States presents the relationship between the two countries through museum diplomacy, and how this impacts the Vietnamese and international public. He will also compare how the countries, the United States and Vietnam, presents the Vietnam War at their respective museums and interactions with the public. The research project hopes to provide an assessment of the inter-subjectivity of American soft power through museum diplomacy and its implication for Vietnam’s experience.
Udane Goikoetxea Bilbao is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Bilbao teaches specialized courses in journalism as well as communication theories, ethics and public speaking.
Udane, a former journalist herself, will be spending three months with IPDGC conducting research on the influence of speed on journalism. She is interested in how the temporality of online journalism has shifted our notions of how long news stays fresh and the expectations around deadlines. She wants to explore the prospects of slow journalism.
Our esteemed Visiting Scholars are available for class visits, meetings with faculty and students, as well as public talks. Contact IPDGC at ipdgc@gwu.edu for more information.