April 27, 2010 — Twenty undergraduate students from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka will spend four weeks in June at the University of Virginia learning about the impact of new media on democracy.

Hosted by U.Va.'s Center for Politics, the students will get hands-on new media experience through internships with local media outlets and organizations, combined with study of new media's importance to modern journalism, freedom of expression, American history and government, politics, pluralism and civic engagement.

As part of the program, for the weekend of June 11-13, the students will have the opportunity to lodge with host families from U.Va. Staff or faculty interested in hosting a student should contact Daman Irby at irby@virginia.edu. Priority will be given to those who respond by May 5.

This program is offered by the Center for Politics' Global Perspectives on Democracy initiative, together with Relief International, with support from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

"Democracy requires engaged, civic-minded citizens," said Irby, director of operations for the Center for Politics. "Global Perspectives on Democracy provides young people from across the world with the education and tools they need to become civic leaders in their own countries."

The academic residency will include lectures by distinguished scholars and practitioners in the fields of media and politics. Virginia Supreme Court Justice Bill Mims, former U.S. Sen. and Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker, former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ashley Wills, political journalist Craig Crawford, actress Daphne Maxwell Reid, Chief Stephen Adkins of the Chickahominy tribe, U.Va. politics professor Larry Sabato and others will share their perspectives and experiences.

Some lectures will be open to media. For information contact Irby at irby@virginia.edu or 434-243-8475.