WUEV, radio station of the University of Evansville in Indiana, launched its UK-based foreign bureau this fall, just in time for student/correspondents Stacy Woodruff and Beth Nicewonger to cover the funeral of Princess Diana. The new foreign-correspondent program, developed by the university's mass communication department, is the first of its kind, according to station manager Len Clark. "I don't know of any other school in the country where they operate a foreign bureau," says Clark.
Woodruff, a junior mass communication major from St. Louis, is based at the University of Evansville's Harlaxton campus, located in Grantham, England. She and fellow correspondent, Beth Nicewonger, a native of Heyworth, Illinois, send their radio stories back to the university by file transfer protocol. Using digital tape recorders, stories are sent to WUEV, and air during the daily noon and 5:00 p.m. newscasts. They are then archived, along with accompanying photos--shot using digital cameras--on the university's Internet Web site.
A 1995 graduate of Heyworth High School, Nicewonger says she sees the program as a unique way to further her career plans: "Right now, I am focusing on print journalism. I am minoring in art and am very interested in the art direction of both magazines and newspapers. I enjoy graphic design, layout design and photography as well as writing. Through the foreign correspondent program, I am getting experience as a ëphoto-journalist,' building my stories around photographs that I've taken with the digital camera. My packages develop from the captions of those photos and actualities I get from people I interview. When I started the correspondent program, I didn't know exactly what to expect. I knew I would be at Harlaxton college in the fall and I was interested in gaining mass communication experience while there. Last semester at UE I spent several weeks learning the equipment at the university's radio station. However, I expected my first weeks at Harlaxton to be experimenting time. I thought I might do a story about how the students felt being away their first weekend in England or something similar, yet simple. Instead, I was forced into the traumatic story surrounding the death of a princess."
She says she has received positive feedback, much of it by e-mail: "I enjoy hearing from Harlaxton students, alumni and parents who have seen photos and stories on our webpage. I am happy that my parents and friends from the states can click on our page and check-out what we have been doing."
For more information on the program, contact Len Clark at 812-479-2689.
To reach Stacy Woodruff or Beth Nicewonger, contact Marsha Jackson in university relations, 812-479-2562 ( or by e-mail, Beth: [email protected], Stacy: [email protected]).
The university's Harlaxton Bureau Web site can be found at:
http://cedar.evansville.edu/~wuevweb/information/station/harlaxton/
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