Anastasia Hecker from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been awarded a $1,500 scholarship to study Japanese visual culture this summer.
Hecker, of Lincoln, is studying journalism. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Lambda, a national leadership and honors organization. Hecker works with children at the UNL Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies.
Students must participate in faculty-led study abroad program or language study abroad programs in order to receive the funds. Hecker will spend three weeks in Japan during the eight-week summer course beginning May 14.
Frauke Hachtman and Dana Fritz are the course leaders. Hachtmann is graduate chair and advertising and public relations associate professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Associate professor Fritz, who taught in the Visual Literacy Program, teaches photography in the Hixson Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. Their backgrounds in advertising and art bring together two important aspects of visual culture.
The Global Gateway program is designed to promote and enhance global competency in undergraduate students and is given to students who have never traveled outside the United States.
David Wilson, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs, said, “Our students are inheriting an increasingly interdependent and interconnected world.
“They will need…the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and abilities to interact productively and respectfully with peoples from various languages and cultures; the ability to comprehend global events and issues and create possibilities for addressing them. One way of developing that global competency is by living and studying abroad.”
The course on Japanese visual culture was first offered in 2010. Hachtmann and Fritz received an Initiative for Teaching and Learning Excellence grant from UNL in 2009 to develop this general education study abroad course. The grant enabled them to purchase books and language materials as well as travel to Japan to research accommodations and activities for the students.
The University of Nebraska Foundation through the Office of Academic Affairs funds the Global Gateway program. UNL offers up to 150 scholarships to students each year.
Stacie Hecker