Greenlee alum Etse Sikanku visited with Greenlee undergraduate and graduate students during the second week of classes this fall semester to share professional tips with aspiring journalists and offer advice to future communication scholars.
Sikanku is an associate professor of journalism and communication at the University of Media, Arts and Communication-Institute of Journalism in Ghana. He has produced extensive scholarship and in-depth analysis on the role of communication in a variety of local and international media and serves as a leading political communication analyst and commentator for Ghanaian television.
Sikanku’s work has appeared in top-rated and globally recognized journals such as the International Journal of Communication, Howard Journal of Communication, International Communication Research Journal, Communication and the Public and the Journal of Black Studies. As a political communication scholar, he has studied media representation, political framing and campaign communication and authored two books. His first book, “The Afrocentric Obama and Lessons on Political Campaigning,” focused on the Obama presidency while his recent book focuses on the values, leadership and communication style of Vice President Bawumia and the evolving role of the vice presidency in Ghana. Sikanku has guest lectured at the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Harvard.
“It’s great to see that the seeds we planted while he was a grad student in the Greenlee School have sparked a rich intellectual journey with multiple publications to date,” said Daniela Dimitrova, university professor and LAS Dean’s Professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. “Etse has become a role model for his students back in Ghana and also a great ambassador for Greenlee abroad.”
Sikanku has also contributed extensively to public discourse and public policy nationally and internationally. He is one of few scholars who still practice in the field of journalism serving as a television host, special assignment reporter and radio talk show host on national and international issues. He served as an international correspondent for CITI FM during the 2008 and 2014 Presidential elections in the U.S. He is broadly interested in the role of public communication in national and global affairs, particularly in democratic and political deliberation.
He obtained his Ph.D. in journalism and mass communication from the University of Iowa. He holds a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from Iowa State University and a B.A. (first class) in political science from the University of Ghana, Legon. He received the 2011 Outstanding Doctoral Student Award for Research from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa.
Distinguished Professor Michael Bugeja asked Sikanku to discuss the concept of Ubuntu: “I am because we are” during his visit to Iowa State to share with Bugeja’s media ethics class. The video is accessible to anyone interested here.