The Review

Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Wallace McKelvey The university's new satellite allows classes to be offered in two international locations simultaneously.

The future of global communications at the university is perched atop Pearson Hall. 

Lonnie Hearn, director of Information Technologies at the university, said the high-definition satellite uplink installed this fall can broadcast signals as far west as Vancouver, British Columbia and as far east as Bulgaria. 

It replaces an analog system that was established in 1989, but had become obsolete, Hearn said. The university needed a digital system to sustain an international media presence. 

"It was a matter of getting calls from cable and broadcast networks for experts they knew we had at the university," he said. "We had a great deal of difficulty transmitting these people for a live interview under the old system." 

Hearn said the university's reputation is impacted by how it presents itself. It is important for professors to participate in the media. 

"[The university's] image changes the value of the degree you're going to get," he said. "Maybe it shouldn't, but it does." 

Getting professors who are experts in different disciplines to the media outlets could mean driving to Philadelphia or flying to Los Angeles, Hearn said. The alternative is walking across the street to sit down in front of a camera for 10 minutes. 

"Millions of eyes will see our expert on televisions around the world," he said. 

Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the university, has used the new satellite uplink for interviews with CNBC, Bloomberg News, FoxNews and the BBC in London. 

"It's easier to not have to travel into Wilmington to do them," Elson said. "It's better to see UD on the screen than WHYY." 

He said the signal would occasionally fail while conducting interviews using the old system.

"The new system is much more dependable than the old," Elson said. "I think it's a vast improvement." 

Hearn said the most important improvement of the new satellite uplink is its reliability. 

"The truth is we would soon lose the capability to do satellite uplinks at all had we not replaced the [old system] because of the FCC requirements and the level of reliability the networks demand," he said. 

Continued...

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