Professor Jan Servaes has returned to the University of Massachusetts from a trip to several Asian countries. The communications professor, who is also the director of Communication for Sustainable Social Change (CSSC) traveled to Hong Kong, China and Thailand, according to a press release from UMass News and Media Relations.
Servaes was invited to speak at a conference called “Internationalizing International Communication.” The attendees included scholars from Europe, the U.S. and Asian nations, and discussion revolved around the future of international communication.
Servaes spoke on a paper he published recently, “Questioning the Western Bias in International Communication: Beyond Modernization of the Four Theories of the Press.”
In Wuhan, China, Servaes lectured as an honorary guest professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. There, he presented a lecture on young Americans’ media use. He also lectured at Hubei University and Zhongan University of Economics and Law while in Wuhan.
In December, Servaes traveled to Bangkok, Thailand for the ORBICOM-UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) regional conference to discuss a global initiative meant to facilitate communication and information for social change. The lecture was held in Bangkok’s United Nations Conference Center. Researchers and scholars from 18 countries spoke on their 45 papers at the gathering.
Along with being a professor and lecturer, Servaes serves as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Telematics and Informatics: An Interdisciplinary Journal on the Social Impacts of New Technologies, and also chairs the journal Communication for Development and Social Change: A Global Journal, according to UMass.edu.
Servaes is also an editor of two series of books, “Communication for Development and Social Change” and “Communication, Globalization and Cultural Identity.”
According to the UMass website, Servaes was president of the European Consortium for Communications research and Vice President of the International Association of Media and Communication Research in the past.
–Collegian News Staff
