Doctoral journalism student Senyo Ofori-Parku has received a prominent statewide leadership award, the first for the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication, the school announced recently.

Ofori-Parku won an Oregon University System Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund award for international research for the 2013-14 academic year.

Students selected for the award demonstrate strong leadership skills, a broad vision, international outlook and a narrow focus on an important issue. The goal of the award program is to support advanced graduates students with a “high potential for leadership in international affairs, in public life or private endeavor.”

Ofori-Parku’s dissertation research focuses on risk perceptions and corporate sustainability communications related to offshore oil extraction in Ghana. The $12,000 stipend will allow him to travel to and from Ghana, his homeland.

“For me this award means a lot because it allows me to explore an issue that is really important: how the oil industry has impacted local folks, the environment and the local livelihood,” Ofori-Parku said.

Faculty members Kim Sheehan, professor and director of the masters program in Strategic Communication, and Leslie Steeves, professor and associate dean, work closely with Ofori-Parku on his research.

“Senyo is a tremendously hard worker with a critically important research agenda,” Steeves said. “Finding ways to measure and analyze cultural variables will be an enormous contribution and set the agenda for many future studies and hopefully corporate practice.”

A handful of recipients are selected for the fellowship by graduate deans from PSU, OSU and the UO. Cross-cultural collaboration is expected and recipients are expected to submit a written report once their research is complete.

- from a story by Casey Pechan, PR, '14, UO School of Journalism and Communication