This year, assistant professor in AD+PR, Henry Brimmer, won the Charles A. Gliozzo International Award for Public Diplomacy. The award is given to a Michigan State University employee, who as a citizen diplomat has demonstrated a commitment to promoting intercultural relations, building relationships “one handshake at a time” and enriching international educational exchanges.
According to Charles Gliozzo, “students should be aware of the impact of global competition. An international dimension should be intrinsic to a student’s education-- if not, you will find yourself on the outside looking in.” This view echoes the bold design of President Simon, who is focused on “transitioning MSU from a land grant to a global grant institution.”
Brimmer is an ideal fit for this award due to his ongoing efforts to unite the Chinese and American student populations in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. In 2014, Brimmer traveled to China with a team of eight students to compete in the OneClub China Youth Creative Festival, a competition for young advertising creatives throughout China. The festival consisted of lectures, presentations and the contest itself where students were assigned a problem to tackle by the main sponsor.
Inspired by the trip to China, Brimmer launched in Minds (Wide) Open 2015, a competition held for students in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations. Focused on communication problem solving between American and Chinese students, the competition successfully brought together a diverse group of MSU students, giving them the unique opportunity to work collaboratively together and to show their creative advertising skills to some of the industry’s top professionals.