WSU Professor Susan Dente Ross Awarded Fulbright Scholar Grant

PULLMAN, Wash. — Susan Dente Ross, associate professor of communication in the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, Washington State University, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research and teach at the University of the Aegean in Mytilene, Lesbos, Greece, during the 2004-2005 academic year, according to the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board.

During the 2005 spring semester in Greece, she will lecture and conduct research on the role of Greek, American and global media in framing issues and groups in ways that perpetuate intercultural conflict or promote peace. Her primary research will involve detailed analysis of Greek and American media portrayals of Palestine, Israel and Iraq.

Ross, who joined the WSU faculty in 1996, earned her master’s degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and doctorate from the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. At WSU, she teaches a range of journalism and law-related courses, including media law, access to public records and meetings, qualitative research methods and news reporting. Her research looks at how the law and media organizations affect individual and group identity, social change and public debate. Some of her research specifically examines how government is accountable and opens its records and processes to the public.

She also is the founder and director of AccessNorthwest, an organization dedicated to increased access to government information and the maintenance of citizen oversight of the governments that serve them in the Pacific Northwest.

Ross is one of approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad to some 140 countries during the 2004-2005 academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Program. Established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Arkansas Senator, J. William Fulbright, the program’s purpose is to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other nations.

Recipients of the Fulbright Scholarship awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their fields. Among the thousands of prominent Fulbright Scholarship alumni are Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate in medicine; Rita Dove, Pulitzer-prize-winning poet; and Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel Corp.

Additional information about the Fulbright Scholarship Program can be obtained online at www.cies.org, or by calling Nancy Santos Gainer, director of external relations, Council for International Exchange of Scholars at (202) 686-4014 or ngainer@cies.org.