Twenty-eight years after the United States ended its involvement in Vietnam, West Virginia University’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism is offering summer courses on the Southeast Asian nation that once pervaded the American consciousness.

Former Vietnamese journalists and School of Journalism graduate students Tran Long Hai and Hoang Ai will teach the”ins and outs”of the mass media in Vietnam and the media’s role in the social, economic, political and cultural life of the emerging socialist country. Tran and Hoang, who are married with two children, are the first Vietnamese journalists to enroll in graduate school at WVU since the end of the Vietnam War.

“These ought to be a very interesting set of cross-cultural courses,”said Ivan Pinnell, associate dean.”I think Hai and Ai are excited about sharing their culture, history and media experience with us. It makes it more of a two-way street. They learn about us, and we learn about them.”

Tran will teach”Vietnam: Media Perspective”during Summer Session I May 20 through June 27. Tran is a former correspondent for the Vietnam News Agency and was based in Washington, D.C., from 1999-2002, covering such stories as the 2000 presidential election and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He has bachelor’s degrees in journalism and literature from Hanoi University.

“Vietnam: Media Perspective”will cover the Southeast Asian nation from a media perspective with the focus on the nation’s history and culture. Unlike most courses available to students in the United States, which center on the American war in Vietnam, this class will trace the evolution of the Vietnamese people from prehistoric times to present day.

Students will learn the nation’s history of resistance against invasions and conquests to claim its identity and independence and acquire a basic understanding of Vietnamese culture, its foundation and its vitality against the backdrop of foreign influences. The course will also cover current events such as Vietnam’s government, economy, society and Vietnam-U.S. relations.

Hoang will be the instructor for”Vietnam: Media/Culture/Language,”a supplemental course to Tran’s to be offered during the second summer session July 1 through Aug. 8. Hoang is a former broadcaster for Vietnam Television in Hanoi. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from Hanoi University and has taught basic Vietnamese to international students in Hanoi and served as an interpreter for the Hanoi Chamber of Commerce.

For more information about the two elective courses, contact Pinnell at 304-293-3505, ext. 5404 or Ivan.Pinnell@mail.wvu.edu

The journalism offerings are among more than 2,000 summer courses available at WVU .

Other summer courses:

  • The Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences is offering an array of courses, including an expedition to the Republic of Fiji to study the island nation’s marine environment and tourism industry and wilderness emergency response training. Course listings and enrollment information for the college are available on the Web at /www.caf.wvu.edu/news/Summer_2003.htm .
  • The Division of Theatre and Dance in WVU ’s College of Creative Arts is offering several summer courses to help students meet their credit hour requirements in liberal studies. Courses include introduction to theatre during both summer sessions, acting for non-majors and world theatre during the first session, and art of film during the second session. For more information, contact Margaret McKowen, division chair, at 304-293-4841, ext. 3121.
  • A Department of Mathematics course to be offered during Summer Session II will include both a workshop to review pre-college algebra material and instruction in college algebra (Math 126). For more information, go to /www.math.wvu.edu/workshop/WKS_126_combo.htm .
  • WVU is also offering 22 courses online this summer, a significant increase over the four offered last year. Web-based courses include introduction to computer applications, human anatomy, pre-calculus, American federalism policy and introduction to mass communication.

Registration for Summer Session I continues through Tuesday, May 20. For information on other summer courses, please visit /www.wvu.edu/~summer .