foreword by WKWSCI Chair
Assoc Prof Benjamin Detenber
Dear Students, Welcome back to a new semester. Over the past year, the faculty and students of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information have been involved in a number of meaningful activities, and passed a couple of important milestones. We celebrated the School’s 20th anniversary with the launch of the Eddie Kuo Scholarship and a grand celebration at the Fairmont Hotel that raised enough funds to create an endowment that will provide two scholarships per year for undergraduate students to study abroad. Taking the learning experience outside the classroom, students enrolled in Go-Far, International Strategic Communication Management (ISCM) and Regional Strategic Communication Management (RSCM), three courses with an overseas component, travelled to Bhutan, Turkey, and the Philippines. I know that the trips were both challenging and rewarding, and I am sure that the international experience has helped to not only broaden horizons, but also better prepare our students for an increasingly globalized world. Like the Eddie Kuo Scholarship, the School’s endowment makes these courses and other activities that provide international exposure possible. In October, the school also held its first Homecoming event in conjunction with the official launch of Newsplex Asia. The Newsplex is an integrated multimedia news production facility, and the first of its kind in the region. It is already being used for training and education, and we hope the facility will provide an opportunity for our students to experience and train with systems and technologies that are likely to be integral in the world of converged media (i.e., the future). Our students have also played a role to make a difference in our society. Quite a few FYPs were done as applied research projects or campaigns, and addressed environmental issues, the elderly, child abuse, education, food culture, and more. These projects nicely melded theory into practice, raised awareness and brought about positive changes. Some class projects have also addressed societal issues and received recognition. For example, short videos produced for CS2006 Visual Communication featured some of the long time peddlers of the Sungei Road Flea market and became part of the National Heritage Board’s online resources. We really like to see our students’ work playing to a wider audience, and will continue to offer opportunities for them to do so. Looking forward, ground is now being broken for a new café that will be located right behind the School. After years of hearing how important it was to students to have more easy access to food and beverage outlets, I am happy to say that we are moving forward with our plans. With financial support from the Provost’s Office, we are going to have a lovely space for casual interaction extending from a refurbished back garden. I look forward to hanging out there with faculty and students.
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