ASU – Jonesboro: Communications
students to visit Kuwait
 

Oct. 11, 2007 -- Four Arkansas State University communications students have been nominated and selected to travel on a Middle East Studies trip to Kuwait later this month. ASU Honors College associate dean Dr. Gil Fowler will accompany the group of student journalists.

The group will be visiting Kuwaiti media outlets and interacting with media scholars and professionals from the region during their weeklong stay in the country. During their stay in Kuwait, the students will visit Kuwait University and learn from current journalism students in the Middle East. The group will also tour newspapers, television stations and museums in the area to gain a deeper understanding of Middle East media and culture. The student journalists will also gather media content documenting their trip in various forms for local and state media outlets.

The trip is funded through a grant from the ASU Middle East Studies Committee. The grant is given from funds donated for the purpose of promoting awareness and understanding of the issues and peoples of the Middle East. The MESC has been funded at ASU since 1994.

Stephanie Fischer of Stuttgart, Sara Gay of Rogers, Andy Geswein of Huntington, Ind. and Andrew Wilson of Harrison make up the contingent of talented media students making the trip. Each was nominated by ASU communications faculty.

“Each of these students were carefully selected based on their superior work as student journalists at ASU and their real-world media skills,” Fowler said. “These students are the cream of our communications crop, each will prove to be a valuable asset to our team.”

Fowler is a veteran of Kuwait trips, after traveling to the country on a regular basis since the early 1990s for both education and discovery.

ASU has connections with the country of Kuwait as well, as 1991 communications graduate Dr. Anas Al-Rasheed served as the former minister of information in the Kuwaiti cabinet. Al-Rasheed was honored at ASU during Homecoming festivities Oct. 13, marking the first international distinguished alumni to be honored at Homecoming in ASU’s history. The group will meet with ASU alumni in Kuwait during their stay including Al-Rasheed. The group will also meet and work with Dr. Masoud Abdulrahim, a professor at Gulf University for Science and Technology.

The students will give updates on their trip while in Kuwait at the blog site of The Herald, ASU’s student newspaper, located at www.asuheraldblog.blogspot.com.

A similar group visited Kuwait in Fall 2004 and gave presentations to over 30 civic clubs, as well as producing articles for publications such as Jonesboro’s The Sun, The Pine Bluff Commercial, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and content for broadcast stations like ASU-TV and ABC’s Jonesboro affiliate, KAIT.

The group will leave for Kuwait Oct. 28 and return to ASUJ Nov. 6.

Stephanie Fischer, a 2006 graduate of ASU with a Bachelor of Science degree in photojournalism, is a current graduate student in Mass Communications. She is the daughter of Greg and Mary Nina Fischer, and Boo and Donna Mahfouz all of Stuttgart. She is a 2004 graduate of Stuttgart High School.

Fischer currently works as a Graduate Assistant in the ASU Sports Information office. She has also worked as a sports assistant for Jonesboro’s The Sun. During her undergraduate work Fischer has filled the photo and news editor positions for the ASU student newspaper The Herald. Following her education, Fischer hopes to work as a Sports Information/Media Relations Director at a major Division I-A university. Her adviser is Dr. Joel Gambill.

Sara Gay, a senior radio/tv major at ASU, is the daughter of Mark and Kathy Gay of Rogers and a 2004 graduate of Rogers High School. Gay is currently a student producer for ASU-TV cable access television station. She is also the Vice President of the ASU College of Communications Undergraduate Student Research Association, and a member of the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. Gay interned as a news assistant during the summer of 2007 at KARK channel four in Little Rock. She has also formerly served as a Public Relations contact for the Habitat Humanity of Saline County. Following college, Gay hopes to do public relations for a non-profit organization or work in a corporate communications department. Her adviser is Dr. Mary Jackson-Pitts.

Andy Geswein, a senior radio/tv major at ASU, is the son of Carl Geswein of Wynne and Betty Freeman of Missouri. Geswein is a 2004 graduate of Huntington North High School and a resident of Wynne. He is currently the Sports Producer for ASU-TV cable access television station, and the editor of the ASU football coaches show “Tribe Talk.” Geswein is the treasurer of Sigma Pi Fraternity at ASU and also works as a Resident Assistant. He formerly worked as a production assistant for the ABC affiliate KAIT in Jonesboro, as well as serving as a student deejay for WVSH in Huntington, Ind. Geswein hopes to work for ESPN doing production work following college. His adviser is Michael Doyle.

Andrew Wilson, a senior radio/tv major at ASU, is the son of Doug and Laurie Wilson of Harrison and a 2004 home school graduate. Wilson has worked for the ASU student newspaper The Herald since November of 2004 and currently serves as Editor-in-Chief, making him the first radio/tv major to hold that position in the history of the paper. Wilson has also appeared on or hosted several television shows on ASU-TV, a student-run cable access television station. Wilson is a four-year recipient of the Chancellors scholarship at ASU. Upon graduation, Wilson hopes to pursue a career in sports journalism through both print and multimedia fields. His adviser is Dr. Mary-Jackson Pitts.

For more information contact Dr. Gil Fowler, associate dean for Honors College, by phone at870) 972-2308 or via email at gfowler@astate.edu.

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