Communication across cultural difference
Honors college alumni Danny Kotula focuses his Fulbright research on communication in Bolivia
From Staff Reports |
This month, Danny Kotula (’22) is completing his 10-month stint as Lipscomb’s 14th Fulbright student awardee working in Bolivia analyzing the nuances of public relations, advertising, communications and media in a Bolivian context.
“Thanks to this Fulbright experience, I finally feel like so many of my passions make sense together and have blended smoothly,” said the former Lipscomb sports commentator, public relations and Spanish major and blogger. “For years, I never really knew how to combine things such as communications, sports, international travel and foreign language. I’ve been able to use all of those things to make a clear and positive impact here in Bolivia. That’s a special feeling and it’s pushed me closer to an understanding of my calling in life, which I expect to be highly impactful for me as I start my professional career.”
The Fulbright program is a prestigious scholarship sponsored by the U.S. State Department to foster mutual understanding between the United States and countries around the world. Students apply for the Fulbright award for one of two purposes: an English Teaching Award or a Study/Research Award.
Kotula was awarded a Fulbright Study/Research Assistantship and began his work in Cochabamba, Bolivia in February.
“My day-to-day includes social media work and communications assistance for two local organizations here in the city,” said Kotula. “My host organization is Fundación Apoyo Bolivia, whose mission is to train and properly equip pastors and faith leaders in order to fix the problems that currently exist in the structure and effectiveness of Bolivian churches.”
Kotula has also become heavily involved with Ciudad de Refugio, a youth ministry and church which moonlights as a cafe, language center and social hangout spot. “I’m also helping advise them on communications strategies while serving on the worship team, acting as a translator for foreign visitors and teaching multiple English courses to locals,” he said.
“With both organizations, I’m asking questions about and noting the ways in which people communicate and how cultural differences in Bolivia can be conducive (and at times, not very conducive) to innovative communication methods,” he said. His research involves “recognizing how non-Western cultures as a whole react to communications tactics very differently than a typical response in the United States.”
For Kotula, the Fulbright experience has given him the opportunity to see the world in a different light. He often travels across the continent to better understand the full picture of communications, culture and ideals in the region, as well as how they change,” he remarks.
“I’m learning so much here, especially in my personal life. The biggest thing I’ll take away from a professional perspective is that communications is, and will always be, a fluid discipline,” he said. “There’s no way to practice communications correctly, and the less you box yourself in and allow yourself to approach a project with a fresh perspective, the more effective a communicator you become.”
During Kotula’s time at Lipscomb as public relations and Spanish double major, he was the sports editor for Lumination Network and the program director and sports commentator for The Bison, Lipscomb’s on-campus radio station. Additionally, Kotula also received several awards from the Southeast Journalism Conference and the Society of Professional Journalism.
“Being at Lipscomb and engaging in so many ways on campus has been a feeling I’ll never be able to replicate,” remarks Kotula. “The Honors College gave me the chance to learn alongside the best and brightest students on campus and forced me to get out of my comfort zone, something that rarely happened to me in a classroom setting in high school.”
Upon completing his Fulbright placement, Kotula hopes to pursue a communications career in the sports industry or to go to graduate school for sports communication or sports management.