Barnes Stays Connected to UK During Year Abroad

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 10, 2015) — For most, a new year brings a time of change and resolutions. For Beth Barnes, interim director of the University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications, the new year brings new global adventures. 

Barnes will spend the first part of 2016 in London where she will teach two courses: “Strategic Public Relations” and “Advertising to Multicultural Britain.”

Barnes, who spent a semester teaching in London in 2000 while employed at Syracuse University, is looking forward to returning for another semester and bringing UK students with her.

“Education abroad has been trying to encourage more UK students to do full semester study abroad programs,” Barnes said.

To do so, they decided to send UK faculty and professors to teach the courses.  Barnes is delighted to have the opportunity.

As for the fall semester, Barnes will be on sabbatical, an opportunity to take a full semester away from the university to work on research or a teaching project. For her sabbatical, Barnes will conduct research in Zambia, a country she fell in love with years ago during her travels.

“What I’m proposing doing for my sabbatical is spending a good amount of time in Zambia, where we had a project going for about six and a half years,” Barnes said. “Towards the end of my time working in Zambia I started working with the Zambia Institute of Marketing.”

Upon completing her research, Barnes will return to UK after her sabbatical.

Barnes is known in the College of Communication and Information for her love of travel and her global experiences. She notes that there is no country she wouldn’t travel to.

She is also widely known for her many accomplishments here at UK. As Barnes prepares for her time away from the University of Kentucky’s campus, she reflects on her proudest moments here.

“One of the things that I’m really proud of, and it certainly wasn’t just me, but during the time I’ve been director, we’ve really increased the amount of scholarship support in the school for our students,” Barnes said. She attributes much of the support to the alumni of the school.

Under Barnes’ leadership, the School of Journalism and Telecommunications received reaccreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, and the journalism program received the same status twice.

In addition, she helped bring the Institute of Rural Journalism and Community Issues (IRJCI) into the college.

“The IRJCI was in existence when I arrived, but it was not yet part of the school,” Barnes said. “So working with the people who created that institute to bring it under the school [was a great accomplishment] because I think it’s such an important part of what we do. I’m also proud of helping to secure Al Cross to lead the institute.”

Barnes helped to improve the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center by supporting the creation of a much broader range of programs. She attributes much of the center’s growth to the involved faculty, particularly the center’s director, Mike Farrell.

Barnes is proud of all that she and her colleagues have accomplished. However, the project she’s most proud of is the work conducted in Zambia with five other UK faculty members and one UK staff member from 2008-2014, which is why she’s looking so forward to returning during her time on sabbatical.

Barnes and other UK faculty members conducted research focused on using journalism to fight HIV and AIDS. They also worked to help strengthen the media in Zambia overall.

“I think for all of us, it’s been a really important project,” Barnes said. “And I think for me, the entire time I’ve been in higher education, it’s the thing I’m most proud of.”

She loves Zambia so much that she hopes to be able to deliver the same positive experience to students through a study abroad program.

Barnes said when she returns to Zambia on sabbatical, she hopes to work with the Zambia Institute of Marketing to help further develop strategic communication practice in the country.

“I love the country and I have never met better, nicer people than Zambians, and I so would love to be able to put students there, whether on short term or ideally a semester-long program, which would be terrific,” Barnes said.

Increasing study abroad opportunities for UK students is something Barnes does along with her director responsibilities, advising and teaching.

“There have been several semesters during the time I’ve been director that I didn’t teach just because of other things that were going on, and I never liked those semesters,” Barnes said. “I missed teaching. I’ve always been much happier the semesters when I’ve been teaching at least one course.”

Barnes has a passion for teaching and she clearly loves her students.  In fact, UK students impressed her before she even accepted her position as director of the School of Journalism and Telecommunications in 2002.

“When I came to do that campus visit, I really liked the students whom I met and also the alumni from the school whom I met with,” Barnes said.

When Barnes originally accepted the position at UK, she had plans to continue work in the administrative side of higher education and perhaps eventually become president of a small college. UK, however, changed her mind.

The contributions Barnes makes are astounding and vast, and as she dedicates her time for the next year to teaching in London and researching in Zambia, she will be missed.

“Beth Barnes is one of the more remarkable persons I have worked with in my 30 years in higher education,” said Dan O’Hair dean of the College of Communication and Information. “She is the consummate professional who holds her students and colleagues in the highest regard. Beth has accomplished so much for the school in the last 12 years. She leaves behind a large legacy, but at the same time, has so many exciting opportunities awaiting her in the future. I speak for all of her colleagues when I say, ‘Thank you Beth, and good luck with your newest endeavors.’”

While Barnes explains that she will miss UK, she reminds students and colleagues, “Be open to possibilities and don’t assume that you know what’s going to happen. Things happen sometimes that you never expected, and they turn out to be ever so much better than what you were expecting.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Blair Hoover, (859) 257-6398; blair.hoover@uky.edu