“The Digital Divide and Its Implications” - Krishna Jayakar

Date & Time: February 25, 2016 | 07:15 PM – 08:30 PM

Location: 012 Lewis Katz Building

Krishna Jayakar, Penn State professor in the Department of Telecommunications, teaching telecommunications management and media economics, will present on "“The Digital Divide and Its Implications" as part of the Penn State School of International Affairs’ spring colloquium: Current Policy Challenges.

Jayakar serves as co-director of the Institute for Information Policy, housed in the College of Communications. His areas of research cover telecommunications policy and media economics, with a special interest in universal access to telecommunications. He is a past head of the Media Management and Economics Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and currently serves on the boards of editors of The Information Society journal and the Journal of Information Policy. His research has been supported by grants from the Pacific Telecommunications Foundation, the Time Warner Cable Research Program on Digital Communications, the Media Democracy Fund, and AT&T.

In 2013, he received the Deans' Award for Excellence in Integrated Scholarship. He had previously received the 2004 Deans’ Award for Excellence in Integrated Scholarship and the 2002 Deans’ Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Before joining academics, Dr. Jayakar was a research officer in India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, drafting research reports and position papers on media policy.

Professor and U.S. Ambassador (Ret.) Dennis Jett, organizes the semester long event to bring thought leaders on topics ranging from food security to terrorism. The program features 14 speakers. Colloquium topics vary depending upon the current issues of the day. The course surveys some major transnational social problems confronting the world, suggested by the Copenhagen Consensus, such as: climate change; communicable diseases; conflict and arms proliferation; access to education; financial instability; governance and corruption; malnutrition and hunger; migration; sanitation and access to clean water; and subsidies and trade barriers. The course involves team teaching and guest lecturers. The course lectures are open to the public and made available via webcast.