• Daystar University
• 10 Nov, 2023

By Prof. Levi Obonyo Dean, School of Communication

The launch of the undergraduate programme in Public Relations is one of the substantial changes we have made to the Communication programme in almost a decade. It builds onto the new direction the School of Communication is adopting in its growth trajectory.

The Daystar University Communication programme is founded on a tradition firmly established on the basics of the communication process. At the core of the communication act is the human individual. The communication programme recognises this reality and roots the programme in exploring human communication in its various forms.

Applied communication, such as Public Relations, Media, and Organisational Communication, only happens due to the human communicative act. Innovation and changes in technology, however, continue to impact how communication takes place. It is thus critical in our scholarship to explore these applications and equip our graduates appropriately.

The School launched the Public Relations programme at the undergraduate level to build on our core communication tradition. The new programme explores the human act as it is applied in interactions at the organizational level to enable the various organization’s publics to create greater commonness for their institutions’ benefit. We are glad that our first class filled up quickly, and we look forward to the admission of subsequent cohorts.

The changes we are making, however, do not stop there. In the coming year, we look forward to launching two other new programs, exploring the applied communicative act in the media and theatre space while still rooted in the traditions of communication and the Christian liberal arts philosophy.

We have also reviewed our undergraduate Music programme. This programme has continued to attract students. The reviewed programme focuses on three concentrations: music performance, music production and music ministry. For us, music is not just an academic programme but a ministry. Music is an opportunity for us to engage with and support the church. Over the last year, we have brought three new faculty members on board in addition to revamping our music production facilities.

An exciting development relating to the Music program and music is the establishment of a scholarship fund this year through the sacrificial commitment of our founder family to set up an endowment fund in memory of Faye Smith, who passed on to glory recently. Look out for our music students as they perform during this year’s graduation ceremonies.

For two years in a row, the School, through a collaboration with Howard University, has hosted students from various universities in the US who come to Kenya through the Howard University Swahili Study Abroad Programme, an intensive community- based Kiswahili language and culture programme. The three –week programme is designed to enhance the students’ language proficiency and promote their knowledge and understanding of Kenya through Swahili language immersion.

We are excited about the partnerships we developed over the last year. The School must have a close working partnership with the industry. We signed a memorandum of understanding with the Public Relations Society of Kenya and have a working relationship with the Kenya Editors’ Guild and the Association of Media Women in Kenya.

Several of our faculty are away this year in fellowships or further studies. Dr. Lydia Radoli, during her fellowship in Germany, has been exploring the trauma that journalists go through and the nature of support they receive in the course of their duty. Prof Levi Obonyo’s work has

continued to explore media models that reflect the African worldview, while Dr. Kinya Mwithia, the Associate Dean, has been exploring the culture in social media spaces.

On the literature front, Prof. Wandia Njoya spent a better part of the year at the University of Bayreuth, Germany working on a research project which explores the art of storytelling with reference to Kenyan educational experiences.

These local linkages and other international partnerships allow our alumni to engage with other professionals in the field of communication. These are the spaces where their predecessors operate. This year alone, we have the pleasure of adding to that number the largest single MA and PhD classes in our history.

At this year’s graduation, over 70 graduates will be conferred with MA in Communication, and eight emerging scholars will be conferred with PhD degrees in Communication. We thank God for the hard work these students and their supervisors have put in to see them through this process. I want to make a special mention of Dr Daniel Aswani, John Bell Okoye and Winnie Mbatha, among other faculty, for their dedicated commitment to supervising graduate students. Our undergraduate students will go forth with confidence to join in the Daystar alumni tradition of serving society with confidence and commitment to the Lord.

A special word to those graduating after completing the two-year diploma programme. We want to see you back here to start working on your undergraduate degree. This year alone, we have nearly 250 students graduating with the two-year diplomas from the school of communication. For those who want to continue to the next level, there is no better place to study communication than your current School.