Thanks to a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia, Carolyn Nielsen, Joe Gosen and Brian J. Bowe will be able to spend two weeks in Tunisia before the start of fall quarter and later host Tunisian students at Western.

Bowe said they wanted to make sure the cost of participation in the exchange was covered entirely by the grant, which limited the number of students to six. It’s not a credit-bearing program, but the international hands-on experience is important for students to be able to participate in, Bowe said. The six students include Ray Garcia, Zoe Buchli, Stella Harvey, Atticus Everett, Ella Banken and Jacob Carver. 

The program will work with three partners: Western; Institut de Presse et des Sciences de L’Information (IPSI), a journalism school in Tunisia; and Tunis Afrique Press (TAP), a wire service.

On both the instructor side and the participant side, there will people from all three. The participants will be Western students, IPSI students and entry level journalists at TAP. The instructors will be the professors from Western, people from IPSI and senior journalists at TAP

“It will be a real partnership among all of these groups, which is really exciting because there’s been a lot happening in Tunisia since the revolution in 2010. The media landscape there has really transformed in very fascinating ways,” Bowe said.

No single partner of the three will be the primary focus, as they each have something to learn from the other two institutions.

“It’s more a ‘what can we learn from each other?’ kind of situation,” Bowe said.

When Bowe saw the request for proposals over summer break of 2018, he quickly got profs. Nielsen and Gosen on board and then started looking for partners in Tunisia. Shortly after, the project was given the green light and students began applying for the opportunity.

“This is a monumental opportunity for WWU faculty and students to be able to work with the students, faculty and journalists in a country in which press freedom has been emerging for only a few years. I’m looking forward to learning from our Tunisian colleagues,” Nielsen said.

Gosen has led three international documentary projects with student groups at his previous college and is looking forward to traveling with his Western cohorts. “This is a great opportunity to bring students abroad,” Gosen said. “I’m really looking forward to sharing this experience and collaborating on projects.” 

Now it’s just about waiting for September.