Used Baggage Money For Air Fare To N.Z.

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30191, 24 July 1963, Page 17

Used Baggage Money For Air Fare To N.Z.

An American Fulbright lecturer liked New Zealand and Australia so much last time he was here that he has used his excess-baggage allowance or an air fare to Ethiopia to call again. He is Mr A. H. Bleich, head of the communication arts section at the University of New Hampshire. Mr Bleich has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach journalism at the Haile Selassie I University in Addis Ababa for nine months from September 15. His route to Ethiopia was to be through Europe, but by skimping on baggage Mr Bleich has managed to bend >he arrangements to take in New Zealand. He was last here in 1960 as ' a United States Navy photographer aboard the icebreaker U.S.S. Eastwind. Since then he has been a magazine photographer and writer and worked on an Alaskan newspaper, as well as covering photographic assignments for “Time’’ magazine, “Life” magazine and other national publications. In his 12 months at the

University of New Hampshire Mr Bleich. who is 26. brought a completely new journalism department into being. “I went into teaching because I was so disappointed with the calibre of the teachers I bad encountered myself.” he said. “Instead of teaching the theory of journalism—which really can’t be done—l made my studenitis bring typewriters along and sent them out on assignments. "I took seven students to an economically depressed area in northern Maine for a week to get them to work on depth reporting—the sociological reasons for the area’s economic depression. The laugest newspaper in Maine, the Bangor “Daily News.” printed each ou the seven reports.” Mr Bleich said his class in magazine writing was so successful that the students started to sell their articles Three of them won 500 dollar scholarships bo go on to graduate school. For a survey course in mass communications he managed to persuade the top men in each medium from all over the country to come to the university and lecture.

In Ethiop.a Mr Bleich will continue courses in journalism which were begun two years ago.