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Thursday, September 16, 2021 Vol. 75 No. 4
Dunham Hall TV studio gets a ‘fresh’ new look BRANDON WELLS sports editor
The updated TV studio in Dunham Hall gives students the opportunity to work with current equipment and helps promote a more green and energy efficient work studio with new LED lights. At the price of $192,906 funded by the Vice Chancellor for Administration Multi-Purpose Construction Account, the upgrades replaced the old incandescent lighting and the projectors with up to date LED lighting controlled by a new light system and a new interactive touch screen TV. Musonda Kapatamoyo, chair of the Mass Communications Department, said the department identified the need for an update due to the high costs of the incandescent lighting and the need for students to use current equipment. “Incandescent lighting gets very hot, is very expensive because it’s not energy efficient and the bulbs break often, so we have to replace them often,” Kapatamoyo said. “The replacement for it is LED lighting …. It’s going to save a lot of money, the LED lights last much longer and they are the industry standard at the moment.” Kapatamoyo also said he believes this only was able to happen due to the good relationship and cooperation with former Vice Chancellor for Administration Rich Walker and current Vice Chancellor for Administration Morris Taylor. Broadcast Engi neer Ben
Moyer sa id t he conversat ion about an upgrade started before he was hired over two years ago. The new lights also make the studio much cooler without the excess heat while also providing a more convenient way to change the colors of the lights to almost any color on the visible spectrum. “With incandescent lights … if you wanted to change any colors, you had to use what’s called a ‘gel’ [which] is basically a plastic material that comes in lots of different colors. So you had to find a gel that you wanted, you had to go up to the light fixture and attach the gel and work with it that way,” Moyer said. “With the LED system we have now, it’s all part of the control system.” While it wasn’t as out of date as the lights, Moyer said the lighting control board was also updated to be industry standard to help students learn how to work with lighting. Moyer said the biggest benefits he sees in getting the upgrade is to give students the opportunity to work with equipment they’d use in the professional field. “It’s state of the art, it’s up to date [and] it’s the same brand and/or the same type of lighting system that students would see if they went into TV studios across the country,’’ Moyer said. “These are the systems of lights that people are using in the broadcast industry, and the way that they are controlled is what students will see in the workplace.” Mass Communications Instructor Cory Byers said he has already seen the difference in the heat between the incandescent and LED lights.
Mass Communications Instructor Cory Byers (far left) holds a class in the updated TV studio under the new LED stage lights. I Jihun Han / The Alestle
“Students [would] get really hot when you have the lights on for a long period of time [and] they’re also easier to maneuver because you don’t have to worry about getting burned if you’re adjusting the lights,” Byers said. Senior Mass Communications major Carlos Dulcamara said he had worked in the TV studio before the update and immediately took notice of the new equipment. “I’ve noticed that we got a brand new giant television, so people can see better because we used to have a smaller flat screen TV — and of course the giant LED lights that we have now. It’s a lot brighter, a lot newer and it just looks fresh,” Dulcamara said.
The new lighting control board purchased by TV studio can control the brightness, color and special effects of lighting. I Jihun Han / The Alestle
FRANCESCA BOSTON reporter
Students may have seen some changes happening in Lovejoy Library. Empty shelves may seem a bit out of the ordinary for a library, but for Lovejoy it means big updates. Shelly McDavid, the area coordinator for access and library spaces and STEM librarian, has been heading up the project. “We are deselecting materials out of the collection that haven’t either circulated ever or haven’t circulated within six years. We’re essentially shrinking the collection to free up space,” McDavid said. McDavid said she hopes that by freeing up space on the second floor, she can create spaces that benefit students. All of the remaining books on the second floor will be moved up to the third floor, where brand new shelving is being installed soon. She also said that the project hit full speed this summer and continues to be a main focus for the library. “We have everyone in the library working on the deselection project, even if it’s only
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like an hour a week, just because it’s all hands on deck right now,” McDavid said. “The whole library is, in some respects getting a little bit of a facelift.” By removing the stacks, McDavid said she is hoping to flood the second floor with natural light and beautiful views. She said that since Lovejoy is located centrally near the MUC that it should feel like the student’s library, a functional, beautiful hub of campus. She is hoping to incorporate other student services from around campus such as a small satellite office for the Student Success Center or a Writing Center kiosk, making the library a space of community. Junior computer engineering major Isabel Lamonte from Belleville, Illinois, said her role is to deselect books, and she is sad to see some books go. She was hired this past summer to help with projects but often helps out at the front desk or wherever she is needed now that the school year has started.
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“We’re going to also be changing our bookshelves and making it nice and cleaner, and possibly adding some more discussion areas or collaboration areas for groups and students. So I think it’ll bring a lot more good to the place,” Lamonte said. “It’s nice to see my tuition go towards some nicer things, so I can be proud of what the campus has.” Junior geography major, Kyra Dietz, from Troy, Missouri, has also been working at the library and said she is enjoying her job and is excited to see what the new changes will bring to the library. “I have pulled books from the 1950s that have barely been touched and I box them up and stamp the box with ‘withdraw from Lovejoy’,” Dietz said. “I always feel so bad about how loud my tape is when I’m working on the boxes because the library is supposed to be silent. But I love it here, I’m already like, ‘Sign me up for next semester.’” The librarians and student workers said they hope by the next fall semester the project will be complete.
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