First Lady, film and digital media bring Kenyan dignitary to campus

The Baylor campus is no stranger to hosting distinguished guests, be they Nobel Prize winners, U.S. presidents, noted speakers or billionaire energy experts. Most are arranged as guest lecturers or Chapel speakers, but the circumstances that brought Kenyan Minister of Information Technology and Communications Samuel Poghisio to campus were a little more extraordinary.

Late last month, First Lady Alice Starr and VP for Student Life Kevin Jackson were in Kenya helping lead a Baylor mission trip. There, they met Poghisio, who (among other duties) heads Kenya’s film industry. On hearing that he would be making a trip to California this month on business, Mrs. Starr urged him to make a stop in Waco to meet with representatives from Baylor’s film and digital media department.

So, last week, Poghisio visited the Baylor campus, where Dr. Corey Carbonara — a longtime BU professor who previously helped introduce Sony’s first high-definition equipment to Hollywood — demonstrated some of the technology available to Baylor students and faculty and examples of the work they have produced.

The visit by Poghisio — a member of the Kenyan parliament and a rumored 2012 presidential candidate there  — was notable in and of itself, but its importance is even bigger than that. It also will pay dividends going forward, as Baylor works to establish long-term relationships abroad, both for mission trips (five different BU teams visited Kenya this summer) and for study abroad programs.

Waco Tribune-Herald top editor Carlos Sanchez summarized Poghisio’s visit, Alice Starr’s important role in bringing him to campus, and the relationship’s larger importance in an excellent op-ed piece that ran in Sunday’s Trib.

Sic ’em, Minister Poghisio and First Lady Starr!