Royal Purple

Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Lifestyle

Wachanga

You could pin him for a communications expert from one conversation. His words, eloquent in their accented nature, aren't condescending though, only knowledgeable and genuine.

As we talked of how he grew up in Kenya, he was impressed by my background research.

"If you we're in my class right now, you'd already have extra credit," David Wachanga said, displaying his witty side.

Wachanga, a former lecturer of Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism at the University of North Texas, was hired as a professor in the communications department starting next semester.

He will teach media writing and will design and study new classes for international communications. He hopes to work to create an innovative course involving culture, communication and documentary film.

He did most of his schooling in Kenya before going to the University of North Texas to earn his master's degree.

Wachanga saw a great chance to experience and study media by coming to the United States.

"I was just excited," he said. "I was getting an opportunity to finish a program and expand my horizon."

Wachanga's teaching philosophy is to engage his students in forms of narratives while using various view points during his lectures. He described it as "creating a stage."

"One subject can be examined in multiple perspectives so that you can have a better understanding," Wachanga said.

He received his bachelor's at Egerton University in Nakuru, Kenya in 2000 with a double major in literature in English and literature in Swahili.

After that he was nominated to become part of the "fast track journalism program." It's a type of exchange program between Egerton, the University of North Texas and Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, he said.

In 2001, Wachanga attended Eduardo Mondlane University to get his master's in journalism.

He came to the United States in 2003 after receiving a $10,000 scholarship to finish his master's at the University of North Texas, and he received his doctorate in information science from the University of North Texas in 2007.

Wachanga hopes to do more than teach at UW-Whitewater.

"It's a good place to not only teach, but also to conduct research," he said.

His main research topics include media ethics in African media systems, international communication, information flow in socio-political restrictive environments, clandestine media, according to the Mayborn Web site.

He has performed many case studies on aspects of communication. For example, what he considers to be "clandestine radio broadcasting," meaning broadcasting done with the intentions of deception and concealment.

Wachanga already traveled to the other side of the world to study in Texas. Now he'll make the trip up to Wisconsin to embark upon a new opportunity at UW-Whitewater.

"I'm looking forward to meeting students," Wachanga said. "I consider students family for the semester. I appreciate them not just as students but as family."

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