Insurance companies boost UF global communications by $100,000
(December 9, 2005) With its faculty members and students embarking on academic journeys to such countries as Nicaragua, Germany and Malaysia, the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications has been expanding its global reach in recent years. Now Miami-based Hamilton Risk Management and its parent company, Ontario-based Kingsway Financial Services, are helping to solidify these globetrotting efforts.
Led by Hamilton President Roberto Espin Jr., who received his bachelor’s degree in advertising from the college in 1969, and Kingsway President and CEO Bill Star, the companies recently pledged $100,000 to establish the Kingsway Professional Advancement Fund for International Communication.
“I am pleased to support a faculty that has done such outstanding work,” Star said.
The fund will help pay for the overseas activities of faculty members and students. The activities include traveling to professional and educational conferences sponsored by such organizations as the International Communication Association; and participating in such college programs as the Florida FlyIns, a course that sends student writers and photographers to a foreign country, from which they produce an online magazine and an exhibit in words and pictures.
“The college has a long tradition of advancing understanding and the practice of journalism and communications in a diverse global community,” said Rebecca Hoover, the college’s director of development. “This contribution helps assure the college’s position as a leader in journalism and communications education for the decades ahead.”
The college plans to apply for state matching funds of $50,000.
“Internationalization of the curriculum is a university initiative and important to the economic development of the state of Florida,” Dean Terry Hynes said. “International programs expose faculty and students to the global community where they can learn about different cultures and share knowledge about responsible and effective journalism and communications, which is crucial to democratic societies.
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