UA president praises Center for Border & Global Journalism

University of Arizona President Ann Weaver Hart singled out the Center for Border & Global Journalism in a July 6 blog post about ways UA and its peers can position themselves as “agents of change” in the world.

“The center,” Hart wrote, “takes advantage of the UA’s location in a border region to pursue key insights into border life and culture, illuminating the transnational status of many communities and histories of border regions like ours, and imagining potential futures for a transnational understanding of human community.”

Hart praised professors William Schmidt and Mort Rosenblum, co-directors of the center, and associate professors Celeste González de Bustamante and Jeannine Relly for their work on understanding “the complexity” of border regions and helping protect journalists in those areas.

“As Dr. Bustamante rightly tells us, ‘some stories along the border are simply too big and too expensive for one individual to tackle,’ and by collaborating across borders, here in the Sonoran Desert and across the world, researchers are able to tap into a productive network of people who are all working to face and solve some of the most important issues troubling our world today.”

Hart added, “We should be wary of what Dr. Bustamante calls ‘dangerous border’ stereotypes that would keep us from engaging in meaningful work,” while still remaining committed to the security and safety of faculty and students who travel abroad. “If we do give into such stereotypes, we risk missing out on potentials for groundbreaking cross-border collaborations, innovation and mutual growth.”