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Professor John Freeman
led this study-abroad course to Berlin from May 10 to May 23, 2019. It was
the 15th summer in a row he helped students conduct field research to
document the spirit and vitality of the city where he attended high school
as an "Air Force brat." At the peak of the Cold War, 1968 to
1971, Freeman lived in West Berlin, surrounded by the Wall, a barrier he
thought would never fall. The idea of returning to a free and unified
Berlin with students came to him while on sabbatical from UF in the fall
2004. A UF alum and Berlin participant in 2008, Andrew
Stanfill, served as teaching assistant for the 2019 course.
During the
two-week course, 17 students were introduced to the city
through bicycle and walking tours, followed by meetings with foreign
correspondents. This year we met with international illustrator
Christoph Niemann
and
Bloomberg senior news editor
David Rocks. Both were inspirational. During
the two weeks in Berlin, students shot a picture
story that suited their interests, as well as stand-alone photos (see
Gallery link). A unique aspect of the course is that slideshows are
completed in Berlin.
The group celebrated its success with
dinner atop Berlin's landmark TV Tower.
Freeman
is a tenured associate professor in the
department
of journalism at the University of Florida and is
a two-time winner of the College Teacher of the Year award. He has also
been named Educator of the Year by the
National
Press Photographer Association. He is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and has a
master's in communication from Wichita State University, where he taught for
10 years before joining UF in 1991. Publications he
has worked for include The New York Times, U.S. News and World
Report, Getty Images, The Los Angeles Times, The Wichita
Eagle and The Bergen Co. (N.J.) Record. He was on faculty
fellowship at National Geographic magazine in 1996. Freeman is married
and has two adult children.
Links of
interest:
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John
Freeman homepage |
Fat
Tire Bike Tours |
Original
Berlin Walks Tour |
Transit-Loft
Hotel |
Official
Berlin City Tourism Site
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John Freeman
Andrew Stanfill
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