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The road that leads from seminary to the Fox hit TV show America’s Most Wanted to tenured professor in an African slum is not well marked, but its trailblazer, Jack Breslin, PhD, Mass Communication, is more likely to choose the road less traveled.

Breslin has been a professor at Iona for seven years, teaching media law and ethics, journalism and public relations. As a young man, however, he felt called to the priesthood, attending St. Mary’s Seminary in North East, PA, for high school, and then St. Alphonsus College in Suffield, CT. After earning his bachelor’s degree, but prior to his ordination, Breslin took a break from his religious studies to see the world—and found a new direction for his life.

After trying his hand at a diverse array of jobs, he wrote an unsolicited article for the Hartford Advocate and soon discovered some success in freelance journalism—and that he enjoyed it. He pursued a master’s degree in journalism, and, after a job with a newspaper, began to work as a TV publicist for NBC, then as one of the handful of people launching the brand-new Fox network in the early 1980s.

Soon he was publicizing America’s Most Wanted and COPS, writing a paperback book about the former. Eventually, he began doing some additional work as an adjunct professor and realized he loved teaching. He pursued a doctorate in media law and ethics—and found a job at Iona. “I had 13 on-campus interviews at different colleges, but I had a good feeling about Iona. The mission of Iona means there’s more going on here than just issuing diplomas.” Breslin admired the College’s commitment to Catholic service, the offering of daily Mass, and the dedication of the faculty and staff to Iona’s Catholic ideals. “It’s not just a job, it’s a calling,” he said.

During the fall semester in 2006 at a meeting in the Mission Integration office, he learned of an opportunity to serve with the Christian Brothers in Africa during summer break, so he applied and was accepted. “There were 38 people in this ‘cultural immersion’ program and only three of us were from North America,” he said. The international group traveled to Kenya and Tanzania, spending most of July working in the vast, one-million person slum of Kibera, Kenya, site of some of the current unrest.

“Kibera is an assault on the senses,” said Breslin. “People live in shacks; there’s no running water; there’s open sewage running through town; the only electricity is stolen, which causes fires. During school breaks, children play near the dump, which is also their ‘bathroom.’ They don’t eat three meals a day.” What’s more, despite the size of the settlement (550 acres), there’s no official recognition that it exists.

“Kibera doesn’t appear on any maps,” he said. The group spent most days in Kibera but stayed in a retreat center, operated by the Loretto Sisters, with many of the comforts of home. Upon returning from each day’s work, the group gathered to reflect on their experiences, a necessary practice, said Breslin. “Some days were good; some days were not so good. It was not a vacation; it was enriching, but it was emotionally challenging.”

They also traveled to a Christian Brothers school in Tanzania and, in a neighboring village, met the chief of the Masai tribe—and his 19 wives, 33 children and 20 grandchildren, many of whom attend the school. Breslin worked with an AIDS support group while he was in Kibera, but he didn’t cease to be a journalism professor, taking keen note of the disconnect between Kenyan media and the reality he was witnessing every day. After returning to the States, he wrote several stories, including an article in the higher education Newsletter Ethical News, describing how newspaper and TV stories focus on politics, crime and middle-class lifestyle issues, “while ignoring poverty and unemployment.”

Though rules forbid him from being part of the same program again, he encouraged other Iona faculty members to apply for the 2008 summer trip to Kibera. “It was a life-changing experience,” said Breslin. He is committed to returning one day and to helping Iona maintain a connection to the people in the devastated region—a road ‘less traveled’ that, with a nod to Robert Frost, may make all the difference.

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