Eight department faculty and graduate students traveled to Belgium in September to participate in the tradtional school-year opening convocation at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, a partner university.

While there, department representatives strolled down cobblestone streets in the traditional opening day procession of faculty at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the oldest university of the Low Countries and the largest Flemish University.

"I was awed by the history and tradition," said assistant professor Melanie Morgan.

Morgan said participants were taken to a building that housed a linen exchange in the 1600s to change into their robes, or togas, as they were called. As they descended to the streets, they were serenaded by a choir.

Spectators lined the streets of the town to glimpse and photograph the faculty as they walked to an 18th century cathedral for the traditional opening mass and speeches.

Department chair Howard Sypher and professors Melanie Morgan and Glenn Sparks in traditional robes on the street of Leuven.

In addition to the pomp and circumstance, participants explored possible joint graduate degree programs, seamless exchanges of faculty and students, and cooperative research projects.

"One of the main activities for me on this trip was to solidify my plans to return to Leuven during my sabbatical leave and work on a collaborative research project with Professor (Jan) Van den Bulck," said Glenn Sparks, a department professor who studies media effects.

"The present plan is to do a large survey (up to 1,000 respondents) of adolescents. The survey will focus on the relationship between exposure to mainstream TV programs and various beliefs that adolescents have about science, paranormal phenomena, and specific diseases and remedies (e.g., cancer).

"We'll be attempting to explore the role that exposure to media messages may have in beliefs that adolescents adopt."