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Western Washington University Journalism Department Chair and Professor Brian J. Bowe has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to conduct research abroad in the Palestinian Territories (West Bank) for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Bowe will be working with partners at Palestinian universities on journalism curriculum design, academic research and writing. He plans to work with An-Najah National University and Hebron University, among other institutions.

Bowe will be leaving for three months next fall, and then another three in the following academic year.

Bowe also received a Fulbright award in 2018 to teach in the American Studies graduate program at University of Jordan. Without a research idea in mind, he describes his first Fulbright experience as cultural immersion.

“In a lot of ways, I think that first Fulbright laid the groundwork for this Fulbright that I was just awarded,” said Bowe. “Working on that solidified my interest in issues of curriculum design and assessment, which is going to be a big component of this upcoming Fulbright.”

This time around, Bowe will be also working on cross-national research on why students join university journalism programs.

“As trust in news media declines, some people have poor attitudes about journalists, and in some parts of the world, journalists put themselves in physical danger doing their work. So I'm really interested in what motivates students across cultures to study journalism. I'm also interested in how those students conceptualize the role of journalism in society,” said Bowe.

Bowe has already conducted related research in the U.S. and Tunisia and is planning to collect data with partners in several other countries. His goal is to continue to follow this study long-term, and across many cultures.

Bowe will also be using his journalism skills working with an arts and culture magazine called “This Week in Palestine.”

“It's important to me to keep my journalism chops active,” Bowe said. “The great thing about ‘This Week in Palestine’ is I will be writing about Palestinian arts and culture for Palestinian audiences. This is going to provide me with a new challenge that I'm very excited about.”

Bowe has an extensive background in music journalism. He is the author of young adult biographies of the Ramones, The Clash, Judas Priest and served as editor and chief of the online resurrection of CREEM Magazine.

To learn more about Brian J. Bowe’s upcoming Fulbright to the Palestinian Territories, contact him at Boweb@wwu.edu.