NEWS RELEASE
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| Steven Youngblood |
Steven Youngblood, associate professor of communication arts at Park University, will direct and teach a peace media and counterterrorism project with a $150,000 U.S. Department of State grant in Uganda beginning this month through September 2012.
The project, "Peace Media and Counterterrorism: Establishing Collaborative Frameworks to Prevent Violent Extremism," includes eight seminars for media and security officials in Uganda. The 2012 seminars will be taught collaboratively with Park faculty, including Carol Getty, Ph.D., professor emeritus of criminal justice administration, Kenneth Christopher, D.P.A, assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and assistant professor of criminal justice administration, and John Hamilton, associate professor of criminal justice.
Youngblood, who directed and taught a comprehensive peace journalism project (with $270,000 in grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department) in Uganda from July 2010 to May 2011, said the goal of the project is to help Ugandan media and authorities to work together to identify individuals at-risk for terrorism and to help them develop frameworks that will facilitate cooperation and collaboration on anti-terrorism efforts.
"I was especially thrilled that I was able to include my criminal justice colleagues in this grant," he said. "I know they will bring an enhanced professionalism and expertise that will ensure that the project meets its anti-terrorism goal. I’m also very excited because this grant really breaks new ground, as it encourages cooperation between media and security officials on their shared goal of violence prevention."
Youngblood is a two-time J. William Fulbright Scholar -- going to Moldova in 2001 and Azerbaijan in 2007. He has taught in 12 countries for the State Department, the United Nations Children's Fund and People to People International. He has taught peace journalism in the Republic of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Turkey and Uganda.
