College of Fine and Applied Arts

by Josh Jarman Intern, College of Fine and Applied Arts

Kevin Balling, professor of communication, received $4,800 from the Foundation Fellows Grant for a documentary film.

Appalachian State professors from any department may to apply for the Foundation Fellowship Grant offered through the Hubbard Center. The center offers services to faculty to support professional growth and development. Applicants must complete a proposal outlining what educational project they want to put the grant money toward.

Balling will use the grant money to create a documentary film of published author and Appalachian English professor Joseph Bathanti.

“He is a great writer, and I have always wanted to collaborate with a writer on a documentary project,” Balling said.

The grant money will go toward travel expenses incurred from having film shoots across the country. Balling predicts the one hour documentary will cost nearly $25,000 to complete.

The film will be marketed to PBS, satellite networks and other universities.

“I really appreciate groups like the Hubbard Center [that] offer these grants because they are a life saver for people like me doing research,” stated Balling.

by Josh Jarman Intern, College of Fine & Applied Arts

Wesley Bauguess has created a scholarship for ROTC students at Appalachian State University in honor of her late husband Larry Bauguess, who was killed in action last May in Pakistan.

The fallen major and operations officer served in the 82nd Airborne Division and is survived by his wife and two daughters, Ryann and Ellie.

After Bauguess’ death, Mrs. Bauguess decided to continue supporting the 82nd Airborne Division. She leads the 82nd Airborne Wounded Airborne Division, where she visits the wounded and shares her appreciation for their service.

Mrs. Bauguess has been active in raising funds to provide break-a-way sweatpants for the wounded and she has been working to deliver other comfort items such as shorts, t-shirts and recently Valentine’s Day cards. She also wanted to honor her late husband by assisting students in Appalachian’s ROTC program.

“Larry and I both absolutely love ASU, and we had the greatest times in the ROTC program,” Bauguess said. It’s a brotherhood and a sisterhood.”

Mrs. Bauguess contacted longtime friend Dan Smith, Appalachian State’s ROTC Alumni president, to help in the effort to honor her husband and his fellow troops.

“I met Larry in 1991, when I was a freshman at ASU and Larry was a junior,” said Smith. “We were both in ROTC. He was always very helpful to cadets learning about the Army like myself. [He] was a great friend and teacher.”

Together they decided to take the necessary steps to create a scholarship in memory of Larry.

The Larry J. Bauguess, Jr. Endowed Memorial Scholarship will be awarded annually, starting this fall, to a junior level ROTC cadet who is a peer leader. The applicants must submit an essay addressing why they want to be a United States Army Officer.

“The goal is to raise $10,000 and then the scholarship will be self-sustaining based off the interest that the $10,000 accrues,” Smith explained. “We are encouraging students, friends, family and veterans to contribute.”

Fundraising began this past December and at last check approximately $2,000 has been contributed.

“The ROTC cadets are committing themselves to serving our country, and this is the least we can do for them,” said Mrs. Bauguess.

For more information about the scholarship, contact the director of development at Appalachian’s College of Fine and Applied Arts at (828) 262-6689. To contribute online, visit www.give.appstate.edu.

Student earns National Audio Award

Rebecca B. Jones, a senior Appalachian State University Electronic Media/Broadcasting student, received a national audio production award from the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts.

Jones, from Denton, North Carolina, took 2nd place in the Audio Educational category with her documentary, “Head, Heart, Hands, and Health: 100 Years of 4-H in North Carolina.” Jones will receive her award at the Broadcast Education Association’s 52nd Annual Convention, Exhibition; Festival of Media Arts, April 16-19, 2008, at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Nevada.

The Broadcast Education Association (BEA) is the professional association for professors, industry professionals and students of electronic media and multimedia enterprises and was established in 1955. Approximately 250 college and university departments and schools are currently institutional members, and over 1,300 professors, students and media professionals are currently individual members.

The BEA Festival provides a national refereed exhibition of creative activities and is a national showcase for student work. The exhibition includes recognition, showcase and awards presentations. The awards ceremony is the capstone of the festival which is held in conjunction with the annual BEA Convention in association with the National Association of Broadcasters’ yearly convention in Las Vegas.

Jones’ winning audio production was produced in Appalachian State University’s Department of Communication as a class project for the Audio Production II course. Jones’ production can be heard online at: http://www.asucom.appstate.edu/smithks/4h_jones.html.

by Josh Jarman Intern, College of Fine & Applied Arts

The Appalachian State Debate Team traveled to the University of Miami where they competed in The Hurricane Debate Tournament. The Debate hosted 10 junior varsity teams and 10 novice teams from across the country.

Teammates, Rachel Ford, an organizational communication major, and Ryan Lucas, a public relations major, won the junior varsity division.

“They spend somewhere in the range of 15-25 hours a week working for debate,” said Professor Kris Willis, the team’s coach.

The debate team faced a tough challenge in preparing for the tournament because for the month prior coach Willis was in South Korea teaching abroad.

The junior varsity team had a weak start losing their first two rounds to George Mason and Louisiana Lafayette. However, the team bounced back with the help of Lucas scoring first in the individual speaker rating and Ford placing second. Bret Peterson, another junior varsity Appalachian debater, placed fifth.

The debaters moved on to win against the University of Florida, a team who had defeated them in the previous two encounters, putting Appalachian in the final against James Madison.

“James Madison is our biggest rival and at the same time our closest friends in the debate community, so this just added to the intensity of the round,” commented Lucas.

The team won a 2-1 judged decision over James Madison to win the tournament.

“Now that we have won our first junior varsity tournament it just means that we have to work that much harder to get to the next level, and become good varsity debaters,” said Ford.

by Josh Jarman Intern, College of Fine & Applied Arts

Appalachian State electronic media and broadcasting majors Jim Lail, Juston Smith and Ashley Poag all received first place awards at the National Broadcasting Society Regional Competition.

Lail won first place for his audio documentary “The Blue Ridge Goes Green” produced in Professor Steve Smith’s Audio 11 class.

“I was pleasantly surprised once I found out,” said Lail, who just got his audio entry submitted before the deadline. The documentary suggests sustainable energy initiatives for the Appalachians.

Juston Smith and Ashley Poag won first place for their public service announcement “Open Door Policy,” produced in Professor Kevin Balling’s Video 1 class. Their goal in the short film was to encourage Appalachian State students to be accepting of each other despite ethnicity, gender, race, age, religion or sexual orientation.

When asked his purpose in the “Open Door Policy,” Smith said, “For people to be able to express themselves as themselves and for other people to accept who they are.”

The regional winners now move on to the National Broadcasting Society to be judged on the national level. The earliest result time is expected to be in March.