UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A group of 25 students and 10 faculty members from two different Chinese universities took part in a multi-day visit to Penn State to cover and observe the election and meet faculty and students.
A contingent from Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) arrived at the University Park campus for a multi-day visit beginning Nov. 6. Their visit began with a lecture by Penn State doctoral student Rose Luqiu Luwei, who has been a television journalist in Hong Kong for 20 years. Her work has made her familiar and respected in China. She has released six books on her reporting trips around the world and one autobiography, as well as written weekly columns for dozens of leading Chinese media outlets. She not only is of the first to blog in China, but is counted among other renowned writers who are attracting millions of followers and readers on the Internet.
The international visit included a tour of the Daily Collegian, a tour of the student-produced TV newscast, “Centre County Report,” and a lecture about U.S. politics by Russ Eshleman, head of the Department of Journalism. Prior to his arrival at Penn State, Eshleman spent 15 years with the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was Harrisburg bureau chief and state political writer. The Chinese students also had the opportunity to sit in on some communications classes, including Eshleman’s reporting methods class.
On Election Day, the students wrote their own election stories as part of assignments and as observations for use in their home country.
"I first came to Penn State as part of this program, and found it to be a very beautiful school," said Biyun Song, who is now a graduate student at the Penn State School of International Affairs. "Through that experience, I learned a lot but also found that I needed more knowledge so I can be a better journalist, which is why I came to Penn State."
Along withe SISU contingent, five professors from Shenzhen University, including the dean of their communications program, joined the Nov. 7 reception for SISU visitors at the Nittany Lion Inn. The faculty members from Shenzhen University are traveling to Penn State after a 2014 trip by Dean Marie Hardin of the College of Communications to their institution.
In recent years, international opportunities for Penn State communications students have grown significantly, including internships in China every year and “embedded programs” in each of the five communications majors that combine an intensive week of study in a country with semester-long work. Countries visited for those courses in the past year were: Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Greece and Iceland.