The United States Artists awarded UVU Assistant Professor Scott Carrier their 2009 Rasmuson Fellow in media. The honor comes with a $50,000 grant which enables Carrier to continue broadcasting his unique voice. Carrier was nominated for the grant by a fellow radio producer.
Based in Los Angeles, the United States Artists is an artist-advocacy organization which awarded 50 grants last year to support artists across the country in categories ranging from music and literature to architecture and design.
“I thought to myself, good now I don’t have to sell my house,” said Carrier when he learned he had been awarded the grant.
Carrier has earned multiple awards for his work including a National Federation of Community Broadcaster’s Golden Reel Award in 2004 for reporting he did in the city of Juarez, Mexico. He won a Peabody Award – the oldest and most prestigious recognition in media – for his radio work. He authored the book “Running After Antelope” and is currently working on his second book, “Prisoner of Zion,” which is a collection of stories about people at home and abroad.
He has plans for future projects that will benefit from the grant, including a story about the history of independent radio producers. “It is an occupation that has gone extinct,” said Carrier.
He also wants to go back to Juarez and do a follow-up story about a woman he interviewed for his previous story, whose son was abducted by men dressed in military uniforms. “Just a couple of weeks ago she was shot in the face point blank in broad day light,” said Carrier.
Last spring the National Public Radio show “This American Life” dedicated an entire hour to the Utah native’s tales. Although Carrier has been featured on NPR and in Esquire, Rolling Stone, GQ and Harper’s he still manages to find time to share his real life experiences as an assistant professor to teach students in the communications department.
Carrier can be heard on the weekly radio program “Hearing Voices,” which is distributed by NPR and airs at 6 p.m. each Friday on KCPW 88.3 FM in Salt Lake City. The program is not available over the airwaves in Utah County, but can be heard online at www.hearingvoices.com.
Conrats teaCH!