Tunisian professor teaches at WWU through June

Arwa Kooli began a one-year residency at Western Washington University in September. The Fulbright scholar-in-residence is an associate professor of media at the Institute of Press and Information Sciences in Manouba, Tunisia. She arrived in Washington with her family and will complete her fellowship this June.

Kooli is currently teaching a reporting course in the Department of Journalism, Public Relations & Multimedia. She is working alongside Brian J. Bowe, the department chair. In the spring, she plans to lead a fact-checking course. The residency also includes time for guest lectures and research projects with other university departments.

Kooli noted that while the context of journalism differs between the United States and Tunisia, the core skills remain identical. She said, “Other than that, reporting is reporting. The journalism fundamentals and principles are the same.”

Bowe, a three-time Fulbright scholar, invited Kooli to the program. He cited her status as a long-time research collaborator and her personal warmth as reasons for the visit. “I immediately thought of Dr. Kooli,” Bowe said. “She has remained a good research collaborator for several of us in the department.”

The connection between the two institutions began in 2019. Bowe, Associate Professor Joe Gosen, Professor Carolyn Nielsen, and six WWU students visited Tunisia to host workshops with Kooli and her colleagues. Three years later, Kooli and members of her team traveled to Detroit for a conference. Since that time, the faculty have published several research papers together, including a 2021 study on data journalism.

Kooli’s research focuses on fact-checking, journalism education, and artificial intelligence. She co-edited “Fact-Checking in the Global South” with Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos from the University of New South Wales. The first volume of that work released in August 2026. She serves as a North Africa representative for the Africa Facts Network Advisory Committee and assesses work for Poynter Institute’s International Fact-Checking Network.

This is the longest period Kooli has spent outside Tunisia. She previously completed a one-month professional fellowship in Seattle in 2013. She is currently documenting her observations in a cultural log to compare student life and teaching methods in the U.S. with those in Tunisia. She said, “We grow when we are exposed to different cultures and experiences.”

The scholar-in-residence program differs from the traditional Fulbright award. In the traditional model, the traveling scholar applies for the grant. In the residency model, the host university applies on behalf of the visiting academic. The program provides funding for the scholar to travel, lecture, and conduct research at American universities.