Remembering two stars of ASU Communications
By Roy Ockert Jr.
Two of the stars of Arkansas State University’s once-great College of Communications passed from this life recently. Although they worked in different departments, they had much in common, one being that each prepared countless students for careers.
Richard “Rich” Carvell, who died Sept. 8, was an assistant professor of radio-television, station manager for KASU public radio and chairman of the Department of Radio-TV before his retirement in 2008 after 37 years of service.
Sandra L. “Sam” Combs died Oct. 23. Her tenure at A-State started the year Rich retired and was therefore shorter, but it was also quite distinguished. She was an associate professor of journalism and adviser to the university’s student newspaper, The Herald, until her retirement after the spring semester of 2025.
As college teachers, they shared the uncommon ability to inspire their students to do good work in their chosen careers. They could do that because each was an outstanding practitioner in the field — with years of practical experience on the “front line.” When they told you what to expect, you knew it was experience talking, not just theory.
Rich was a native Arkansan, graduating at Brinkley and coming to then-Arkansas State College in 1962. He earned a bachelor’s degree in radio-TV, then went to Vietnam, where he headed an Air Force reconnaissance unit's photo lab and was later awarded a Bronze Star.
Afterward completing a master’s degree at the University of Illinois, he joined the ASU radio-TV faculty and never really left.
His career spanned most of the glory years of the College of Communications, when the number of student majors rose above 100 in both radio-TV and journalism. For many years you could hardly go into the offices of any newspaper, radio or TV station in Arkansas without running into an ASU graduate.
After the disastrous Jonesboro tornadoes of 1973, he made KASU a vital emergency alert system for Northeast Arkansas. With any warning, you could tune in and hear his voice providing real-time information that could be life-saving.
In 1998 Rich and I were involved in forming an independent group called the Friends of the College of Communications. Our original purpose was to oppose a proposed merger with the College of Fine Arts. We won that battle, but it would be only the first of many reorganization attempts that eventually decimated the College of Communications and many of its programs.
After Rich retired from teaching, he got even more involved in so many community service activities that they couldn’t all be listed in his obituary. On his Facebook page he entered this in his timeline: “2008, Started new job at Self.” He didn’t just join organizations and causes; he rolled up his sleeves and worked for them. Whatever happened, there was Rich.
He did many remarkable things — a podcast about Arkansas cities and towns, writing and speaking about his experiences in Vietnam, promoting animal adoptions, working at his church, leading veterans’ causes, serving on the Nettleton School Board long after his own kids were grown and so on.
He also had a sideline for which you may remember him. Each year he would grow a white beard so he could play Santa Claus and did so with a natural twinkle in his eyes.
Among his many honors were an ASU Distinguished Alumnus Award and election to the Arkansas Military Veterans Hall of Fame.
Sandra Combs brought a wealth of both professional and academic experience to the College of Communications Most journalism professors have one or the other. Sam had worked as a journalist for five daily newspapers, including the Detroit Free Press, before going into education. She taught at Wayne State University and Michigan State University before coming here, and what a great hire she was.
At the service celebrating her life last weekend, one of those eulogizing her said she was the most unselfish person he’d ever known. That was certainly true in her professional life as she became known for her ability to connect with her students. But it was also true in general. She was a hugger who made friends easily, a good listener and conversationalist. When you talked with her, you were the most important person in the world.
As an alumnus, I continued to observe critically the administrative reorganizations at A-State. During the administration of Chancellor Tim Hutson a plan was pushed to merge the renamed College of Media & Communication with two other colleges. Sam also opposed the plan but had to be careful because she didn’t have tenure.
Of course, the plan was put into effect anyway.
The same year, 2015, the journalism program suffered another jolt with the sudden death of Herald adviser Bonnie Thrasher, another instructor with considerable professional experience. Overnight, the student newspaper was without its faculty leader, who was loved by the student staff members.
The spring semester was about over, but Sam stepped up to fill in and, importantly, help the students deal with their grief. She was appointed interim adviser for the following year and then permanent adviser.
Outside the academy she was a beloved leader in the First Baptist Church, and her work was critical in getting an city avenue named after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., another project on which we collaborated. The Craighead County NAACP honored her with its Unsung Hero Award. Nothing could have been more appropriate.
That brings me to another thing she and Rich had in common. Each fought cancer — different types — during much of the last years of their lives and eventually lost. But you’d never have known it because they didn’t dwell on their pain and kept helping others.
They are missed but their legacies will live on in the hearts and minds of all who knew them.
Roy Ockert is a former editor of The Jonesboro Sun, The Courier at Russellville and The Batesville Guard. He can be reached at royo@suddenlink.net.