Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan Summer 2012 UA School of Journalism International Journalism

Jordan is slightly smaller than Indiana and lies at the heart of the Middle East. Map from a postcard

Surrounded by much larger neighbors. Map from:

A mix of modern and ancient, Jordan is a developing country with a population of some 6.5 million people. This is Amman, the capitol.

The Dead Sea also draws tourists from around the world.

Yarmouk University in the northern city of Irbid, an hour from the capital, is a modern university with some 30,000 students in the arts and sciences.

Economics The Mass Communication department shares a brand new building with Economics. It is mostly finished, but will be completed well before summer 2012.

The Faculty of Mass Comm has departments in radio-TV (it’s biggest), journalism (meaning print journalism) and public relations. The new building has two large labs with Final Cut, Photoshop, InDesign. They are used for classes and are open for student use.

In In one of the new labs, students layout in InDesign and produce a weekly newspaper for the campus called Sahafat al-Yarmouk.

This is one of the older labs in the old building for Mass Comm. The students said they were putting together montage in Final Cut. (Note that not all women are veiled! In fact, a good number at Yarmouk are not.)

This is the old TV studio, the picture taken from the “platform,” or “plateau” -- control room. The new one is not yet finished but is even bigger and much better equipped than this one.

Students in a radio production class – in the old building. The slick new radio studios will be ready in a few months.

Student apartments on campus are very close to the new Mass Comm building. Apartments are either for two students in one-bedroom or four students in two bedroom. All have kitchens, washing machines, and spacious living rooms. Flats are also available off campus.

Because Jordan has so many historical sites of great global significance, it is a good place to produce multimedia travel pieces and other feature stories.

A large number of Greek, Roman, Umayyad, Ottoman and Crusader sites are located in northern Jordan, near the university..

Jordan’s arid environment and growing green movement also offers lots of opportunities to produce science and environmental stories.

Jordan’s unique natural environment, historical and tourism sites and location in the heart of the Middle East, make it an ideal place to take classes for UA credit in summer 2012 in: Journalism Arabic language Soil, Water and Environmental Science Middle East and North Africa Studies

Contact: Professor Zanger This map is interactive at: All photos by Maggy Zanger