Sunday, November 13, 2011 The International Youth Exchange Program (Zajel) at the Public Relations Department at An-Najah University organized a lecture for Dr. Carmen Sammut, a visiting professor from the University of Malta, Malta. The lecture was held at the Faculty of Media at An-Najah in which Dr. Sammut spoke about public diplomacy and its role and impact on the public.

In the lecture, Dr. Sammut spoke about the role of the public diplomatic efforts in the development of nations and communities which is achieved through employing the different sources of power that contribute to the creation of name and good reputation. Moreover, she presented and discussed examples of public diplomacy in the Middle East, in addition to explaining their political, economical and social role and impact.

Public diplomacy is defined as the communication efforts made with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influence.

The students who attended the meeting described it as very informative as it introduced them to a new concept in the field of political culture. Samah Hasan, a student from the Department of English at An-Najah, said the lecture was useful and enabled her to learn new concepts and ideas; she also said she now possesses extra knowledge about the international diplomacy which she will pass on to other in her society.

Dr. Sammut is a visiting professor from the University of Malta and holds a PhD degree in Media; she is a member of the faculty staff at An-Najah. She has also taught media at various European universities and has published a number of articles and studies in many European and international journals.