THE HERALD-PALLADIUM Saturday, April 4, 1987
WMU Joins LMC To Help Engineers
By MICHAEL ELIASOHN H-P Staff Writer
Western Michigan University this fall will begin offering master's degree programs in mechanical and electrical engineering at the Lake Michigan College campus in Benton Township.
Speakers at a news conference Friday morning at the LMC Community Center said the new programs will aid economic development in southwestern Michigan by making it easier for industrial firms to attract and retain engineers.
Dr. Richard T. Burke, WMU vice president for regional education and economic development, said the programs will enable working engineers to obtain a master's degree by taking one class a week at LMC for three years. By taking some additional classes at WMU in Kalamazoo, an advanced degree could be obtained in two years. The evening classes will be taught by WMU staff members.
Two representatives of industry at the news conference, Dr. W. Gale Cutler, Whirlpool Corp. staff vice president for university relations, and Dr. Sharafat Khan, Heath/Zenith Data Systems manager of training and human resources development, said the lack of advanced training here for engineers has been a deterrent in recruiting.
Cutler called it a "principal drawback" and said, "It is important for Whirlpool's technological and economic health that we have some way to expose our employees to continued technological education."
The need for the two programs was identified in a survey conducted late last year and early this year by the Task Force on Technical Education of Southwestern Michigan headed by Dr. Robert Jessen, LMC director of research and planning.
The task force, composed of area business, education and government representatives, said it "found ample justification on the basis of student need and availability for several degree programs."
Engineers and other technical personnel at 39 firms representing 80-85 percent of area employment were surveyed by the task force. of the 800 people responding, only 7.2 percent indicated they were not interested in taking any advanced degree classes and 38.2 percent said they were "ready now."
Dr. Diether H Haenicke, WMU president, call the new programs a partnership between higher education, state government and business and industry.
Dr. Anne Mulder, LMC president, called the new master's degree programs "an important first step" and expressed confidence the program will be expanded later.
Dr. James Matthews, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Western, said after the news conference that WMU offers bachelor's degree programs in seven engineering fields, but the task force survey indicated the greatest initial need in this area is for master's degree programs in electrical and mechanical engineering.
The master's degree programs in those two fields will also be offered for the first time this fall at WMU and will also be taught in Grand Rapids.
Matthews said the program at LMC will start with two classes, on in electrical and the other in mechanical, but others in those areas and other engineering fields can be offered if demand warrants.
Informational meeting about the new programs will conducted for engineers in May at LMC. Dates will be announced.
The other speaker at the press conference was state Sen. Harry Gast, R-ST. Joseph, who said of the the new program, "This is perhaps something overdue."
Gast also announced WMU will be included in a Michigan Information and Technology Network, which will link via television satellites the state's five universities offering engineering degrees. The program, which should be in operation within a year, will make engineering courses and later other programs available statewide.
Burke said WMU has offered extension classes in the Benton Harbor-St. Joseph area since 19917. Through its Southwest Regional Center at LMC, it presently offers undergraduate programs in applied liberal studies and health studies and graduation programs in education.
Further information about the new engineering programs ca be obtained by calling the Regional Center.

South Bend Tribune Friday, February 26, 1988
LMC takes 1st step into 21st century
by BARBARA FUNK Tribune Berrien County Bureau
BENTON HARBOR - Lake Michigan College took its first step Thursday toward operating its telecommunications network when trustees accepted a bid for a ground satellite system.
College President Anne Mulder told trustees the purchase of the $11,570 this is "just the beginning of a move" into the 21st century.
Once in operation, the system will provide expanded classes to students as well as an opportunity to the community for teleconferences. Inja Kim, dean of library and learning resources, said the system will have full capabilities to receive programming and it will be expanded in the future.
Trustees awarded the contract to Global Communications Inc. of Berrien Springs even though its price was $666 higher than the only other bid submitted. The second bid from Jim's Microwave Communications of Chelsea, Mich., however, had several additional expenses and Mulder felt the Berrien Springs business could provide better service.
In other business trustees approved a new policy for Guaranteed Student Loans that tightens up the repayment plan. The new policy allows the college to withhold student transcripts for those who are in default of the loans.
The policy was developed following meetings with eight area lending institution officials.
Financial Aid Director Sylvia Coleman said that students applying for loans now will have extensive pre-loan counseling to explain their rights and obligations.
Coleman added that defaults by students often are not intentional but instead are caused by a lack of understanding of the repayment schedules.
Trustees also learned of a two-month child care program at the LMC South Campus in Niles. Play-Care, according to Anne Erdman, will provide low-cost child care to students who might otherwise not attend classes because of parental responsibilities.
Cost per child will be $1.25 per hour and the program will be staffed by a paid supervisor and a work-study student. The program will begin March 14 and continue through the end of the semester in May.
Students may leave their children from 8:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday at the South Campus. A day care license from the Department of Social Services in not required because parents are on the premises where the child is. Erdman added that the program does not increase the college's liability. The center is for children between the ages of 2 and 12.

THE HERALD-PALLADIUM Tuesday, March 22, 1988
LMC gets courses on TV via satellite
Lake Michigan College ushers in the age of telecommunications - instructional programs on television transmitted by satellite - this week with and informational meeting about an advanced engineering course and a conference on student assessment.
Area manufacturers have been invited to the meeting Wednesday morning concerning a course in advanced thermodynamics to be offered by Western Michigan University at LMC during the spring semester, May 3 - June 21.
Joanne Phillips, LMC coordinator of promotions, said the class for engineers working on post-graduate degrees will be the first in Michigan offered by a college or university through a community college via satellite.
The classes will be transmitted live from WMU in Kalamazoo to the LMC campus and students here will be able to ask an be asked questions by the instructor. the meeting starts at 9 a.m. in the dance-drama room at the LMC Community Center.
The teleconference on "Assessing Student Outcomes and Success" will be broadcast at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in the LMC planetarium.
Transmitted live from Washington, D.C., to sites across the nation, panelists will discuss ways to measure the success of community college students, according to Phillips. Members of the local audiences will be able to make comments and ask questions.
Moderator will be Dale Parnell, president of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges. Panelists will be Gregory Anrig, president of Education Testing Services; Rafael Cortada, president of the University of the District of Columbia; Harvard University Professor K.Patricia Cross; New Jersey Gov. Thomas H. Kean; Charles J. McClain, president of Northeast Missouri State University; and assessment specialist Kay McClenney, a member of the AACJC board of directors.

THE HERALD-PALLADIUM Thursday, March 2, 1988
LMC ready to tune in on satellite TV class sessions
MICHAEL ELIASOHN H-P Staff Writer
Terms like "landmark event." "fantastic" and "limitless" were used Wednesday morning to describe the start of broadcasting of classes and other educational activities by satellite to Lake Michigan College.
The first such class begins May 3 and will be for students in the graduate mechanical engineering program WMU offers on the LMC campus in Benton Township.
The class and future potential for LMC's telecommunications program were outlined Wednesday at the LMC Community Center to representatives of area industries.
LMC President Anne Mulder said it will be the first class broadcast by satellite from a four-year university to a community college in Michigan.
Mulder said because of the telecommunications equipment LMC is installing "the possibilities for education in our area will be virtually limitless." She said it will enable the college to bring in classes, seminars and other educational programs from just about anywhere.
Last fall, WMU started LMC programs which enable working engineers in this area to earn a master's degree in electrical or mechanical engineering without ever having to take class in Kalamazoo.
Until now, said Christina Davis, WMU professors have had to travel to LMC to conduct the classes. Davis is the director of the WMU Southwest Regional Center on the LMC campus.
The instructor of the first telecommunication class will be teaching it simultaneously to students on the WMU campus. The class in advanced thermodynamics will run from May 3 to June 21 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Thermodynamics deals with the mechanical action or relations of heat.
Students at LMC will see the program on a large television screen and be able to ask the instructor questions by telephone. A loudspeaker will allow other students to hear the question, Mulder said.
Dr. George Dennision, WMU vice president for academic affairs, said the university is exploring offering a master's in business administration degree program on the LMC campus.
The ability to off classes and seminars broadcast from satellite from elsewhere has several advantages for area employers, said Ed Youngman, Zenith Computer Group vice president for personnel and co-chairman of the Southwest Michigan Task Force for Advanced Education.
He said it will enable employees to keep updated in their profession; provide an incentive to stay for employees who might otherwise take jobs elsewhere to be closer to a university offering advanced degrees; be a recruitment tool in hiring engineers; provide and opportunity to develop specialized education programs ; and aid economic development.
Dr. Dale Cutler, recently retired Whirlpool staff vice president for university relations, said without advanced training "a graduate engineer knows he will be out of date five years after he gets out of college."
Cutler has been named chairman of the Board of Governors of the Michigan Informational and Technological Network. He said the Legislature has appropriated $6 million to establish the statewide network, similar to what is being done between WMU and LMC.
the LMC Board of Trustees at its February meeting appropriated $11,570 for purchase of a satellite receiving dish and television screens. Mulder said the equipment will be installed in time for the start of the class May 3.
The board Tuesday night approved a 1987-88 budget that includes $137,000 to buy more telecommunication equipment, renovate the library, to install a control center and hire a technician.
Mulder said initially, there will be receiving equipment in the two lecture halls, the planetarium and the library.
Probably within the next three years, a second satellite receiving dish will be purchased to serve the Community Center, she added.
The first telecommunications conference, on student assessment, takes place at LMC today using rented equipment, since the equipment being purchased isn't installed yet. Mulder said another one for the nursing education staff will be held next week.
Tuition for the advanced thermodynamics class is $252 ($84 per credit hour). for information about it and the two other engineering classes being taught at LMC during the spring semester, call the WMU Southwest Regional Center, at 925-7059.

South Bend Tribune Sunday, August 7, 1988
Channel 34 receives equipment donation
by JOHN D. MILLER Entertainment Editor
The acquisition of some $1.5 million worth of cameras, studio lighting and editing equipment - a gift from the Whirlpool Corp. - has made WNIT-TV, Channel 34, one of the "best-equipped stations in Indiana," according to Don Checots, executive director and general manager of the Public Television station.
Whirlpool phased out its video production facilities in Benton Harbor and last week donated its entire inventory to Channel 34 and to Lake Michigan College, a community college located in Benton Harbor.
The original purchase price of the equipment, most of it purchased in 1982, was $2 million, according to Dana Donley, director of employee communications for Whirlpool. About three-fourths of that amount went to Channel 34, with the remainder headed to LMC for use in its telecommunications services program.
Checots called the donation "overwhelming" and said the added equipment "puts us on a parity with our brothers in broadcasting."
A crew was at work last week installing girders to hang new studio lighting, and Checots said that work will be completed in time for the Aug. 13 launch of the membership campaign.
In addition to the lighting, which includes four lamps rated at 5 kilowatts, Whirlpool has turned over two studio cameras, a computerized editing console and a computerized animating machine. "We are now the only public station in Indiana to have computerized editing," said Checots.
Station officials were responsible for transporting the equipment from Benton Harbor to the Elkhart studios and for installation expenses. "We may spend $10,000 (in labor)," Checots estimated, "but that's a small price compared to the outlay from Whirlpool."
With Whirlpool no longer producing videos for dealer, sales and employee training, LMC will be able to expand its program into that area, according to Joann Phillips, director of marketing services.
Channel 34 will augment the Whirlpool contribution to LMC by giving the college some equipment made obsolete through the donation.

South Bend Tribune Thursday, December 1, 1988
WMU to beam marketing class to LMC site
BENTON HARBOR - An undergraduate marketing course will be broadcast live via satellite from Western Michigan University's main campus in Kalamazoo to a classroom on the Lake Michigan college main campus this winter semester.
The course will be the first in Michigan to be transmitted via satellite from the university to an off-campus location, according to Christina Davis, director of WMU's Benton Harbor Regional Center, which is located in the Lake Michigan College Community Center, 1100 Yore Ave.
She said the three-credit "Principles of Marketing" course was selected because it is one of the prerequisites for Western's new MBA program which is scheduled to begin at the regional center in the fall of 1989.
Davis said approximately 200 individuals have expressed interest in the local MBA program, and many of them need the marketing class, which is a prerequisite to begin the MBA program.
The course will be broadcast to the LMC campus from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Mondays beginning Jan. 9. Registration for the course and other WMU courses at the LMC campus began Wednesday.
Davis said students will be able to interact during classtime with the professor using a telephone hook-up installed in the classroom.
"The professor will make one site visit during February, and will be available to students by phone at designated time during each week of the semester," she explained.

S&VC (sound&video contractor) May 20, 1994
Mendel Center for Arts and Technology
by Jeffrey E. Bollinger and Lawrence S. Silverman
This multifaceted facility helps Lake Michigan College promote economic growth in southwest Michigan.
In the baseball fantasy movie Field of Dreams, the sun sets over a line of car headlights that stretches as far as the camera can see. In the farmland of Berrien County in Benton Harbor, MI, there are also lines of cars out to the horizon along Interstate I-94. Their destination is the Mendel Center for Arts and Technology, a massive 93-foot building on the campus of Lake Michigan College.
The Mendel Center houses a performance, teleproduction, conference and training facility. This multifaceted building helps the community college promote economic growth in southwest Michigan by providing a well-educated labor force and a mjore desirable locale for businesses. This second goal is met in two ways. First, the school provides meeting and convention facilities not available elsewhere in this region. Second, the community finds the area a better place to live because of the center's diverse cultural activities.
The Mendel Center consists of a 1,550-seat multipurpose auditorium (the main-stage theater), a 250-seat experimental theater (the Hanson Theatre), a dance studio, a teleproduction complex (the Upton Telecommunications Center), a conference center with exhibition halls and meeting rooms, a videoconferencing and distance-learning classroom, computer instruction classroom, and support spaces, including dressing rooms and offices. The center was completed in two widely spaced phases. The Hanson Theatre, the exhibition halls, music rehearsal spaces and offices were completed first. The area for the main-stage theater was left with only a roof, exterior walls and a dirt floor for more that 12 years.
More recent funding allowed the completion of the project. It included many meeting rooms, a teleproduction complex and major renovations to the originally completed portions.
This second phase extended over 22 months, starting with a 3-day design "charrette" where the design team met with college teaching staff, technical staff and administration. The users' involvement helped them understand their needs and the compromises necessary to meet a realistic budget; it also gave them a sense of ownership.
This depth of involvement could have led to chaos, but the process worked because of the leadership of Anne C. Erdman, the special assistant to college president Dr. Anne Mulder. Erdman, who was responsible for managing the project, encouraged a feeling of teamwork.
Meeting acoustical goals
One primary goal for the main-stage theater was to provide a versatile performance space that would rank with the finest theaters and concert halls. the school also wanted acoustical excellence for a range of uses, including symphonic music and speech. Although this is often the stated goal of multipurpose facilities, it is rarely achieved. However, Mendel Center ended up with a handsome room design with excellent acoustics and sightlines, thanks to acoustical consultant Rein Pirn of Acentech, the acoustical, audiovisual and video consultant; architect John Martin of Progressive Architecture Engineering Planning, Grad Rapids, MI; an theater consultant Robert Brennan of Buerki Brennan Associates, Mequon, WI. The performing arts consultant was Lawrence Teal, Milford MI, and the structural engineer was Carl Walker Engineers, Kalamazoo, MI.
Features such as sidewall soffits and multifaceted balcony and side-arm faces encourage the propagation of lateral sound reflections. The dimensions and volume of the room also contribute to the sound. Much of the room volume is above the level of the lighting catwalks. Five heavy curtains can be drawn across this upper space, allowing for variable reverberation time. With the main drape closed and all sound-control curtains retracted into the sidewall pockets, the unoccupied reverberation time is 2.1 seconds. With all curtains extended, this figure is reduced to 1.45 seconds. Thus, the estimated occupied reverberation time can vary from 1.7 to 1.3 seconds. The orchestra shell creates greater reverberation, but there was no opportunity to document this condition.
This 1,550-seat hall is small enough to be intimate, and its sightlines provide clear views of the stage. The stage itself is enormous. It has a 93-foot-high stage house, with a proscenium opening as wide as 65 feet. This width allows the orchestra shell to become an extension of the audience chamber, providing excellent acoustical coupling. For staged events, theater consultant Robert Brennan designed the proscenium opening to include operable portions to reduce the width as needed.
Another factor in the quality of the space is the quiet heating and ventilation system. Doug Sturz of Acentech, the consultant on mechanical-noise control, worked closely with the mechanical engineers at Progressive Architecture Engineering Planning to ensure that the systems would be quiet. The HVAC system's measured background noise varies between NC-15 and NC-20.
The auditorium has systems for sound reinforcement and playback, production and backstage communication, and audiovisual presentations. These systems and those in the Hanson Theatre were designed by co-author Jeff Bollinger of Acentech, who acted as audiovisual system consultant; the system installation was done by Central Interconnect, Grand Rapids, MI, and supervised by Michael Smith.
A 4-way central loudspeaker cluster concealed behind a full-width grille above the proscenium opening provides sound-reinforcement coverage of the entire room. Components were JBL products: four each 2404H Tweeters, 2365 60*x40* high-frequency horns with 2445J drivers, 2202H 12-inch low-frequency drivers and 2245 18-inch subwoofers. The 12-inch drivers are arranged in a vertical column and sandwiched between the high-frequency horns.
Coverage of the front rows of seats is supplemented by an array of 30 JBL 2105H 5-inch loudspeakers installed across the front edge of the stage. The array provides these seats with excellent directional realism for reinforced sound; the sound comes from directly in front instead of from the cluster overhead. The idea of using three clusters (left, center and right) was rejected for cost reasons.
The design of the sound-reinforcement system encourages touring groups to use the house system for primary coverage. Numerous connector panels, splitters and snakes ease the interfacing of touring equipment with the house system. The 4-way cluster provides the bandwidth and output level required for all but the most extreme uses, with output levels of more than 106dB (peak response, unweighted) before clipping.
Operators can monitor all power amplifiers with an Audioscope 3211 from Apogee Electronics. The 3211 provides bar-graph metering of the output levels, using a video monitor to display up to 32 bar graphs with user-selectable meter ballistics. Each meter has a 50dB range with independent adjustment of input sensitivity.
In this system, the bar-graph levels are normalized so that 0VU represents the maximum safe output level or the clipping level for the particular channel. The portion of any bar exceeding 0VU turns re. The monitoring CRT can be located at the audience control location as well as in the control room so that the operator can see if a particular amplifier has failed, or if the system is driven above the safe limit.
The sound control room is at the back of the orchestra-level seating under the balcony. Its front wall consists of sliding glass doors that provide a 7'x11' opening. The resulting monitoring environment is adequate for non-critical events or for events handled by an experience sound operator familiar with the room.
The control-room loudspeakers receive a pair of delayed microphone signals. With the delay, the sound-system operator hears the signals several milliseconds after the direct sound coming through the open control-room window. This delayed signal adds ambiance and level to the sound environment so that it is more similar to what the audience hears. The delay is also needed so that the audience in the last row doesn't hear "pre-echoes".
Excellent operator hearing conditions are provided at a control location in the center of audience, used with the house or touring console. The house consoles is a 32-channel Soundcraft 8000 with an 8x8 matrix.
The smaller 250-seat Hanson Theatre provides somewhat similar facilities, although on a much smaller scale. Its system design is biased toward drama and speech reinforcement rather than high-level reinforcement. Much of the existing system was re-used in the new design. The console is a Soundcraft Delta 200 with a 16 input channels and four groups.
Video capabilities
The Hanson Theatre and the main-stage theater interface with the teleconferencing and video-production facility, allowing video productions, business television and distance learning. The systems were designed by co-author Lawrence Sliverman of Acentech, who acted as video systems consultant; installation was done by the video and audiovisual systems contractor, Todd Communications, Minneapolis, and supervised by Gary Martin.
Fifteen camera circuits are positioned around the main-stage theater; another eight are located in the Hanson Theatre. Camera platforms were included in the architectural design of the main-stage; cameras are generally unobtrusive and do not block audience views. Cameras are located at the wings behind the proscenium, on each side by the orchestra pit, on sidewall camera platforms, in balcony lighting slots, and in the projection and control booths behind the orchestra and balcony seats. A section of seats in the center of orchestra rows 14 and 15 can be removed to make room for cameras or a touring audio console.
With so many camera circuits, multicore camera cable is not practical, yet triaxial connectors and cables are expensive and large. The solution was to employ a triax-like system from Telemetrics that operates over conventional 0.305-inch coaxial cable. cameras are Ikegami HC-240A units; they can be used on tripods with fluid heads or hand-held at the stage for numerous angles and closeups.
Both theaters act as extensions to the teleconference system. Soon after the opening, Whirlpool established the Whirlpool Quality Forum and began using the main-stage to originate conferences seen throughout North and South America and Europe.
Cameras are operated form the teleproduction control room, just as if they were in the TV studio. Audio is controlled within the auditorium and in the teleproduction control room, using permanent microphone splitters and audio tie-line cables. Full intercom capabilities allow coordination between the auditorium, the control room and the satellite truck. Video can be displayed on a large Draper screen over the stage, but the projector must be rented until a AmPro, Barco, or Hughes LCD light-valve projector can be purchased. The teleproduction control room can feed graphics and videotape to enhance the conferences.
In addition to camera and audio cables, the entire building is cabled for multichannel AV distribution for satellite and videotape programming using a broadband RF system. Videocassette players in the TV control room, as well as multiple satellite receivers, feed the campus cable TV. These signals can be viewed in the halls, offices, convention-center facilities, and in several training and meeting rooms. Events in the theaters, televised through the teleproduction control room, can be broadcast throughout the campus.
The Upton Telecommunications Center, the TV production complex, includes a 1,200ft studio, a multiple satellite reception system, a 1,200ft multipurpose teleconference room, a central equipment room, the teleproduction control room and an announcement booth. The control room is shared between the teleconference room and the TV studio, and can also be used with camera locations throughout the building. The control room houses the controls for a 16-imput Ross video switcher, Ampex ADO digital video effects, Calaway videotape editor, and a stillstore-paint system using an Intel 486 personal computer with Targa card. An existing character generator completes the list of video tools.
The control room also houses a Soundcraft Delta AVE audio console and audiocassette recorders. The audio mixer includes VCAs under ESAM control from the videotape editor. All equipment with cooling fans, including the Panasonic M-II VCRs, has been located in the central equipment room to eliminate control-room noise.
Within the teleconference classroom, three cameras with remotely operated Telemetrics pan-tilt mounts can pick up students at their desks as well as instructors at the front. The room has wiring and mounts for four camera positions, allowing two cameras to face either the teacher or the students. Using two cameras in this fashion allows clean switcing between closeup and wide shots, and eliminates the need to pan or zoom the on-air camera. The teleconference classroom can function independently or in conjunction with the TV control room. Many classes do not require any technical support; the instructor controls all operational function via a Crestron touch-screen controller. The control system recalls memorized camera shots both in this classroom and at remote classrooms.
For events requiring more resources or sophisticated production values, or when an instructor desires the extra freedom, the room can be controlled from the adjoining TV control room. From the control room the cameras are controlled by a panel with two joysticks (pan-tilt and zoom-focus) and buttons to learn and recall preset camera shots around the room.
A large rear-screen video projector and several video monitors are built into the front wall of the classroom. The large screen can display the primary video source such as a videotape playback or computer graphics. One of the two smaller screens cam be used to show the outgoing signal. This allows participants to feel confident that they are not doing anything that makes them look silly on camera. In full 2-way modes, the projector screen displays the incoming video. One Monitor is mounted from the ceiling near the cameras over the students, facing the instructor. Thus, the instructor can see the students at the remote classroom without turning from the students in this room.
The teleconference room is used for small-group videoconferencing and for distance learning. Several modes of operation are available. Usually, the classroom operates paired with a second classroom at the college's south campus 30 miles away in Niles. A digital video codec using a dedicated 1.5Mb/s T-1 phone line allows students at both sites to see and hear the other classroom. (T-1 or DS-1 in the world of digital telephony represents 24 voice-grade circuits; 28 T-1 lines add up to a 45 Mb/s DS-3 digital line.) The system is being expanded to include two additional T-1 links including the Sprint Meeting Channel and the nearby Van Buren school district. The college has also wants to purchase a multipoint control unit (MCU) for simultaneous conferencing or teaching to multiple sites.
In addition to using digital phone lines, the classroom can originate or receive 1-way video distance-learning classes via satellite. The room's rear-screen video projector displays the picture received via one of two satellite antenna.
One dish - a Simulsat V from Antenna Technology - receives multiple satellites simultaneously and is assigned to educational channels in frequent use. This antenna had an original complement of six feedhorns and 12 low-noise amplifier, block downconverters (LNBs). The LNBs are the first RF amplifier stage and also down convert 4GHz C-band or 12 GHz Ku-band signals to the 950MHz-to-1,450MHz L-band used by the the receivers. Most domestic U.S. satellites broadcast two sets of channels (transponders) simultaneously with horizontal and vertical antenna polarization - two LNBs per feed horn and on feed horn per satellite.
The second satellite dish provides ad-hoc reception of any satellite not set up on the fixed dish. To originate classes or business TV conferences, a portable satellite uplink truck is parked next to the Mendel Center and connected to Power, video, audio, intercom and telephone circuits.
The 30'x40' TV studio has sound-absorption treatments on the walls and ceiling. The 2-story spance has a lighting grid with 100 electrical outlets for theatrical lighting. A cyclorama curtain circles the studio. Large acoustical double doors allow access for scenic backdrops and sets. The studio is located off the corridor adjacent to the loading dock for easy access. This same dock and corridor provides a straight path from trucks to the backstage area of the main-stage auditorium. Thus, preset 40-foot light battens and scenic drops can be brought backstage with ease.
The studio is equipped with water, electricity and natural gas utilities. These utilities can be used to demonstrate operation or repair of appliances or even to produce a cooking show. This ability is very important to nearby Whirlpool, a frequent user of the Mendel Center facilities. The studio is used to record educational and training materials for on-campus students and faculty, and to support the surrounding economic community.
Getting off the ground
The commissioning of all this equipment was, of course, not without problems. The greatest caveat we can give is to make sure that facilities spread throughout a large building share a common isolated ground and power source. In this case, the telecommunications center, being a completely new addition, has its own isolated and shielded transformer, However, the main-stage does not share this power source, instead using the conveniently located existing power system.
Initially, severe noise affected the mic split lines that run from the main stage to the telecommunications center. These lines share 100 feet of underground trench with dimmer circuits, electrically isolated with PVC conduit instead of the metal conduit specified. Although it seemed that the dimmers were creating the noise, most of the noise was simply an error in the audio grounding.
There is still a very low-level noise in these lines, which are passively split with Jensen transformers. Each splitter has two isolated outputs, which introduce3s several decibels of loss. An analysis of the noise spectrum indicates it is digital switching of some unknown origin. The use of (much more expensive) amplified mic splitters would eliminate the noise, and there have been discussions about adding either line amplifiers or a digitally multiplexed snake to this interconnect.
All other noise problems were eliminated after correcting a few miscellaneous ground loops or faulty terminal block punches. The tie between the two unbalance Clear-Com intercom systems required an inexpensive Clearcom interface adapter to eliminate hum.
We also discovered that audiovisual control systems, such as the Crestron touch panel, require plenty of time to program and trouble shoot. Although operational when classes started, the system required additional programming well into the school year.
One other problem involved the rear-projection screen in the teleconference classroom. The multilayer fresnel-lenticular screen was mounted with its weight bearing o the lower edge, presumably causing the different layers to separate over time. These multilayer screens must be clamped and hels only from the top edge. (Mono-lithic fresnel-lenticular screens don't exhibit his delamination problem).
Otherwise, almost everything works amazingly well. Fro example, Central Interconnect's wiring is so well-done that there is no detectable hum on any circuit within the main-stage theater, despite literally hundreds of lines. The gain structure of the system is well-adjusted sot that the main-stage sound system is quieter than expected. With the room unoccupied and silent, the residual electronic nose reproduced by the central loudspeaker cluster is virtually undetectable.
The Mendel Center has completed its first year with the new facilities. For the design and construction team, for the college staff and administration and for the community at large, the Mendel Center for Arts and Technology has been a success.

THE HERALD-PALLADIUM January 16, 1995
TV links LMC, Van Buren Vo-Tech Center
Satellite puts Benton teachers before students in Lawrence
by DENNIS COGSWELL H-P Van Buren Bureau
LAWRENCE - A new group of students is taking Lake Michigan College classes today, but they'll be doing it 25 miles away in Lawrence, thanks to a new high-tech classroom.
Students enrolled in Western Civilization, Children's Literature and two other courses will participate in classes being beamed via satellite from LMC's Upton Telecommunications Center to a classroom at the Van Buren Vocational Technical Center.
The Upton Telecommunications Center is in the Mendel Center on LMC's Benton Township campus.
The concept - known as distance learning - may well be the wave of the future not only in education but in various business applications, according to Dr. Inja Hong, LMC's dean of learning resources. "This system really has no limits," she said. "It's up to us how we use it."
During a demonstration last week, Hong and LMC business instructor Bob Lane talked from the Upton Center with a group of Van Buren Intermediate School District administrators in the Vo-Tech Center classroom. Both rooms are equipped with microphones and cameras that can be adjusted to pick up speakers as they move around.
"One of the interesting things is how quickly we've become comfortable talking to you (by television)." Superintendent Jim Mapes told Hong and Lane.
Hong said LMC has used the system to provide courses for south campus students in Niles for a couple of years.
"I find that students are more adaptive to this kind of technology that teachers are," she said.
One of the main advantages, according to Lane, it that it allows LMC to provide instruction to small enrollment groups which might not otherwise be large enough to justify a class. If only four or five people sigh up for a children's literature in Lawrence, for instance, it's not a problem because LMC is still teaching the class at its Benton Township campus.
"I enjoy it more as a classroom instructor because I can do more," Lane said. "I have at my command more facilities that I do in an actual classroom at the college."
Instead of using an overhead transparency, Lane said he merely has the camera focus on whatever pictures or other materials he wants to show. The LMC classroom is manned by a technician, but the instructor can also direct the cameras using a touchpad.
Exams will be faxed back and forth between the sites.
Lane said he plans to teach some classes in Lawrence so LMC students can see what it's like to be taught from a distance.
Students taking the classes at the Vo-Tech Center are high school seniors who want to get a head start on their college work. Tuition is paid by their school districts with state aid. The classes are also open to adults on a tuition basis.
The $60,000 cost of equipping the classroom and the $656 per month transmission charge to lease two telephone lines from Ameritech is being paid by a grant from the state Department of Education, according to Chris Hill, systems manager for the ISD.
"Our long range goal is to establish the distance learning classroom right in the (local) schools," he said. "That way, they wouldn't have to leave the schools."
Hong said students will also be able to take classes at other universities in the state using the same method through the Michigan Colleges Telecommunications Association. The same technology could also be used for corporate teleconferences or business seminars, she said.

THE HERALD-PALLADIUM Thursday, January 4, 2001
News from Southwest Michigan

On-line courses fill need for working college students
By TIFFANY MILLER / H-P Staff Writer

Lake Michigan College - 2755 E. Napier Avenue, Benton Harbor, MI 49022 (269) 927-8100
LMC at South Haven - 125 Veterans Boulevard, South Haven, MI 49090 (269) 637-7500
LMC at Bertrand Crossing - 1905 Foundation Drive, Niles, MI 49120 (269) 695-1391
M-TEC at LMC - 400 Klock Road, Benton Harbor, MI 49022 (269) 926-6832