Emily Feldman, a Pulitzer Center journalist,
will speak about the refugee crisis in the
Middle East and Europe on Oct. 20 at the
Kent Student Center Ballroom.

Kent State University’s School of Communication Studies will host a Global Communication Issues Forum on the refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe, featuring Emily Feldman, a Pulitzer Center journalist, on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Feldman’s presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Kent Student Center Ballroom on the Kent Campus. This forum will examine events resulting in large-scale movements of refugees from Syria and Iraq. The program is free and open to the public.

Feldman, an Istanbul-based Pulitzer Center journalist, writes about the humanitarian crises resulting from conflicts in Iraq and Syria, with a special focus on women. For the last two years, she has reported on issues ranging from ISIS recruitment to the mass movement of refugees from the region – filing stories from Iraq, Turkey, the Balkans and Western Europe for Mashable and Al-Jazeera America, among others. Previously, she covered national and international news for NBC in New York. She is a graduate of City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism and a New York native.

The ongoing movement of refugees from Syria and Iraq has become a concern of governments worldwide and focus of international media, says Paul Haridakis, Ph.D., Kent State professor of communication studies.

“We’re fortunate to have a Pulitzer Center reporter who has covered this ongoing story and who can share her first-person insight on this issue,” Haridakis says. “Addressing the global effect of this topic and how media communicate their coverage to share with a worldwide audience is a basic component of the forum.”

The School of Communication Studies’ ongoing Global Communication Issues Forum brings Pulitzer Center reporters to campus who offer personal and professional perspectives on how a news story is covered. This informs the public, as media consumers, how media coverage can influence viewpoints on global issues.

Kent State is part of the Pulitzer Center’s Campus Consortium network that includes more than 20 colleges and universities. The Campus Consortium initiative is a core component of the center’s effort to create awareness campaigns around global systemic issues that affect us all. The Pulitzer Center promotes in-depth engagement with global affairs through its sponsorship of quality international journalism across all media platforms and an innovative program of outreach and education.

The Center for International and Intercultural Education at Kent State is a co-sponsor for this event.

For individuals unable to attend the event, it will be livestreamed on the School of Communication Studies’ YouTube channel.