“The heart of Greece beats in the diaspora”

The International Summer University “Greek Language, Culture, and Mass Media” will once again take place in Boston in 2025, consistently and devotedly serving the concepts of extroversion and internationalization. We have been feverishly preparing for nearly a year for this new transatlantic journey of the institution, which passionately and enthusiastically spreads its ideas.

The 2025 program is organized by the Laboratory for the Study of Social Issues, Mass Media, and Education of the Department of Early Childhood Education at the School of Education of the University of Ioannina, in collaboration with the Maliotis Cultural Center at Hellenic College in Boston. It also includes participation from the Department of Greek Education of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the Greek Applied Linguistics Association, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency, Study in Greece, the Center for Hellenic Studies at the University of Chicago, and Fondazione Vexillum. The event is scheduled to take place in Boston from May 24-29 and will be implemented through the Lifelong Learning Center (KEDIVIM) of the University of Ioannina.

The 11th International Summer University “Greek Language, Culture, and Mass Media” is held under the auspices of the Hellenic Parliament. The program is also supported by the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This year, it bears the specific title: “Diaspora Media: Challenges and Prospects for the Greek Language and Culture.” Offered free of charge, it is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, journalists, PhD candidates, and educators, and it also accepts a percentage of professionals within the framework of lifelong learning.

The organization is supported by several media sponsors: ERT, ERT 2, ERT3, ERT WORLD, Proto Programma 105.8, and The Voice of Greece, as well as the Hellenic Parliament Channel. Additional media sponsors include Real FM, Real News, real.gr, and CNN Greece. The Greek Service of Deutsche Welle also participates as a media sponsor. Other supporting media include: Orthodox Observer News, The National Herald in the U.S.A., Greek Herald (daily national edition) and Neos Kosmos in Australia, Cosmos FM (Greek Public Radio of New York), H W Media Group from Austria (with diaspora websites hephaestuswien.com, pyramisnews.gr, and the Greek-language radio station in Austria, Hephaestus Radio). Pyramis News, aimed at the Greek diaspora in Africa and Arab countries, also participates. Other diaspora media sponsors include: Kallimera Massalia, WNTN Radio-1550 AM/Grecian Echoes in Boston, Hellenic Radio in Bedfordview, Johannesburg, Eleftheria newspaper in London, 2mm Radio in Sydney, Darwin, and Wollongong, Echo of Central and Southern Africa, Broadcast Canadian & International TV Network (BCI media) in Canada, NEWSVILLE in Belgium, and more. The promotional video spot features the well-known actor and director, Mr. Giannis Bezos.

The Rectorate of the University of Ioannina, led personally by the Rector, Professor Anna Batistatou, along with the University Council, distinguished academics from Greek and international institutions, intellectuals, journalists, artists, writers, researchers, and notable entrepreneurs as gracious sponsors, have shared in and experienced with us the evolution and enrichment of the original vision. Our heartfelt thanks go out to this “army of distinguished” supporters, a gratitude that will be expressed for as long as the institution remains alive. And it will stay alive as long as we work tirelessly for it and as long as young people join with passion and commitment to support it.

This year, we will once again collaborate with Ms. Chrysoula Kourkounti, Executive Director of the Maliotis Cultural Center. The charismatic Chrysoula Kourkounti provides invaluable services in promoting Greek culture and language within the diaspora, and we are truly delighted to be working with her.

We also add here that the proceedings of previous events have been published in elegantly designed volumes by Gutenberg (Greek Language, Culture, and Mass Media) and Pedio (Language, Ethics, and Ideology in the Media) in Greece, as well as in Brazil within the magazine Hellenic Gaze, where we served as guest editors for two volumes. In the summer of 2022, the proceedings of the 7th International Summer University were published in Australia in collaboration with the Modern Greek Studies Program at the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Language and Literature at Macquarie University, and the Macquarie Greek Studies Foundation in Sydney, Australia. The proceedings from Castellorizo are set to be released in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2024, while we are also preparing to publish the Boston proceedings through Kappa Publishing in spring 2025.

Furthermore, we take pride in mentioning the online Alumni Group of the International Summer University, which, in 2024, successfully organized the 5th “Mini Summer University” in Kalymnos, proving to us that this initiative has lasting value and a bright future. We have always believed that if we do not engage young people in beautiful initiatives, these initiatives will never become even more beautiful. This is why we announce and publish with them on a regular basis.

With full awareness of the responsibility that comes with organizing this event, we are making every possible effort to ensure that the 11th International Summer University in Boston provides our Greek expatriates and students with a valuable and exciting experience, just as befits an academic endeavor of high standards.

Because this little boat still has its sails open. Looking forward to seeing you!