School of Broadcast & Cinematic Arts 53rd Edition Fall 2012 The Moore Holler “A lot can happen in the middle of nowhere” (Positioning slogan for the movie Fargo) into the building, the old Moore Hall cameras Director’s Doodle and pedestals were relocated to Anspach to By Pete Orlik provide much needed backup for gear that has been very heavily used over there in Inside this issue: The past summer has seen a major teaching basic video and performance clas- 3 Faculty Notes enhancement of BCA facilities with the conver- ses. sion of the Moore Hall TV Studio to full HD ca- In the past few months, we have Student Info 4 - 6 pability. Under the supervision of our contract also been able to purchase additional HD engineer Robert Johns and with the tremen- field cameras for class, MHTV and News Central use to enrich that aspect of our vid- Where are They 8 dous installation expertise of Joel Holzknecht from AVI Systems, the control room was com- eo curriculum. As we start the new semes- Now? pletely gutted and new equipment installed, ter, BCA’s television plant is far more robust including a multi-screen display projected from than it has ever been and we are anticipat- Alumni Chapter 8 two 60-inch plasma screens. Sony HD cameras ing a very exciting and productive video year. were placed in the studio atop new tripod ped- This follows up on video successes earlier in estals and all graphics in our WeatherCentral 2012 when MHTV won College Television Alumni Takeover 9 system were converted to full HD imaging. The Station of the Year designation from the massive wooden monitor wall and its mono- Michigan Association of Broadcasters for the chrome screens were removed along with thou- 11th consecutive year. Meanwhile, a new Awards 11 sands of feet of legacy wiring to create a truly features creative unit, Central Premiere Pro- modern productional environment. Funds for ductions, was administratively set up in the this project came from a combination of a one- Spring and begins full operation this year Faculty and Staff time grant from Dean Salma Ghanem, a perma- under the direction of Video Laboratories Pete Orlik, Director nent increase in our equipment budget as a Manager Eric Limarenko. CP-Squared is Will Anderson result of the Provost’s Program Prioritization dedicated to the production of a variety of Kevin Campbell process (that ranked our undergraduate curric- independent projects. Some staff changes have further Michelle Carson ulum among the top 8% of programs on cam- pus), laboratory fees from production classes, strengthened the School. Our half-time Kevin Corbett and funds donated by our loyal alums. “front-office” secretarial position, filed since Ed Christian Before and after this project, Robert last August by Michelle Carson, has now Tim Hygh also was responsible for disconnecting, wrap- been increased to full-time through the sup- Robert Johns ping, and then reinstalling the Anspach TV port of Dean Ghanem. Michelle and office Ken Jurkiewicz equipment because Anspach Hall was com- manager Joan McDonald are therefore both available throughout the work day to handle Sangwon Lee pletely shut down all summer for replacement of its entire air handling system and the duct- (Director’s Doodle page 2) Eric Limarenko work that goes with it. Once he could get back Joan McDonald Laura Michels Snippets Larry Patrick by Jeff Kimble, Chairman, From your BCA Alumni Advisory Board—Tim Jackson, Chairman Alumni Advisory Board Mark Poindexter Heather Polinsky What an exciting time to be a Chad Roberts Chippewa and to be involved with the less support from the University so that Jeff Smith School of Broadcast and Cinematic Arts. limited resources could be used in the Trey Stohlman As Dr. Orlik explains in his column, the best manner possible. With BCA receiv- Curt Sutterfield entire University went through a program ing a Priority 1 designation in the pro- Rick Sykes prioritization process last year where pro- cess (the highest), the Dean of CCFA Ben Tigner grams were ranked with the goal of being and the Provost of the University have increased the annual funding for BCA Patty Williamson provided more support, equal support, or (Snippets continued on page 2) Page 2 The Moore Holler Director’s Doodle (continued from page 1) October 20. But don’t forget that BCA events begin the previous day with the (Continued from page 1) IL) covering the state capitol. Laura has th on-going administrative duties and under- also taught at Grand Valley State Univer- 13 annual WMHW Takeover. With a take some new projects that previously sity and Grand Rapids Community Col- 9,000 watt HD signal serving multiple lacked staff time to accomplish. Michelle’s lege and will be assisting News Unit Head counties, participants have a prime oppor- move to full-time also freed up a graduate Rick Sykes with News Central on-air tal- tunity for displaying their “on-air chops” to assistant office staff position that has been ent coaching. a great many potential listeners. Bill shifted to our video unit, making it possible In the curriculum development Thompson provides more information to add two more laboratory sections of back- area, we are now offering the new BCA about the Takeover elsewhere in this is- logged core course BCA 223 (Basic Video 399 elective class (Electronic Media Ca- sue. It is never too early or too late to get Production). In addition, we received two reer Building). This has enabled us to involved in this BCA Constituent Alumni new permanent graduate assistant positions modify the required capstone BCA 499 Chapter project. as a result of Program Prioritization, enlarg- (Senior Seminar) to focus more on exit/ Before the Saturday game, the ing our GA corps to 18. Seven of these stu- assessment issues while the new 399 College of Communication & Fine Arts will dents are in the video unit, five in the audio provides students with career infor- again host a tent at Alumni Village with group, two each in news and film studies, mation earlier in their academic career. fun food and more free cowbells. This plus one working with multimedia M2D2 and The addition of this class was itself a classy tchotchke is especially appropriate one helping with our gateway BCA 210 class. response to student suggestions re- given the 2012 “Western Gold Rush” This year, twelve of these assistants are in- ceived via the capstone course’s pro- Homecoming theme. Conversely, as inap- coming graduate students, recruited from grammatic assessment process. Taught propriate as ever, The Tim Jackson One- five different institutions. by Dr. Trey Stohlman, Electronic Media and-Only-Genuine Kazoo Band will recon- Ed Hutchison, who served half-time Career Building has quickly filled in both stitute itself for another on-air perfor- in BCA and half-time in the Integrative Public of its initial semesters. BCA also contin- mance as part of the Alumni Village Take- Relations program, has retired. To replace ues to support professional networking over remote. We hope to see you there Ed, we have hired Laura Michels as a full- opportunities for our students. We are on Saturday as well as back in the hal- time lecturer to teach both copywriting and again partnering with the Michigan Asso- lowed hall of Moore on Friday to view the newswriting. A 2000 BCA graduate, Laura ciation of Broadcasters to co-host a re- upgrades that many of you have helped to also earned an M.A. in Public Affairs Report- gional career fair on Tuesday, October 9 make possible through your donations. ing from the University of Illinois/Springfield. from noon to 3 PM in the University Cen- Your support and encourage- She began her industry career at KTVO-TV ter Rotunda. Alumni are welcome to ment for our program and our students is (Kirksville, MO) as a general assignment participate in this activity as well. greatly appreciated. We now have a 40- reporter and videographer with subsequent Speaking of on-campus activi- year assemblage of alums that consti- work at WHOI-TV (Peoria, IL) as reporter/ ties, Homecoming this year is slated for tutes a mutually supportive resource in weekend anchor, and WICS-TV (Springfield, which we can all take pride. Snippets (continued from page 1) that matching funds can be provid- equipment needs by almost a factor of back at Homecoming to participate ed, so the actual impact of your do- 3 – from $35,000 to $100,000. As in the WMHW Takeover, mentoring nation is 150% of the actual cash or part of this commitment, the MHTV students, and speaking to classes. I pledge that you commit. studios were recently upgraded to the encourage you to reach out to any of We really want to increase latest high-definition television (HDTV) us to become more involved and the participation of alumni in the standards with HD cameras, tapeless learn first-hand about the great work activities of the School, whether it (server-based) workflows, and a Skype going on throughout the hallowed be financial support to the accounts interface for field reporting to more halls of Moore. noted above, or coming back to closely align with technologies being As part of the continued speak to classes or participate in used in the “real world” today. support of BCA by CCFA Dean Salma mentoring or our Homecoming activ- This validation by the Universi- Ghanem and the rest of the Universi- ities. Please join us the weekend of ty of the great work being done in BCA ty, the Dean will continue to match October 20th to see all the exciting speaks volumes about the quality of 50% of each contribution to the things Dr.