State-of-the-art videoconferencing room unveiled at Western Kentucky University

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (March 6, 2013) – Organizations in and around the Bowling Green area can now access the latest in high-definition videoconferencing thanks to a cooperative venture by three Western Kentucky University organizations.

WKU’s Gordon Ford College of Business, the Center for Research and Development (CRD) and the Division of Information Technology have worked together over the past year to create the state’s first educational telepresence center.

The Professional MBA (PMBA) program recently started using the center to link Owensboro MBA students with those in Bowling Green. Now community organizations can ask to use the high-definition (HD) teleconferencing facility.

“As an applied college of business, we are training the leaders of tomorrow by creating highly effective educational programs through the efforts of our outstanding faculty and university partners, using state-of-the-art technology,” said Jeff Katz, dean of the Gordon Ford College of Business. “The ‘telepresence’ approach employed by our Professional MBA program is an ideal example of our innovativeness and dedication to educational excellence.”

The telepresence room is equipped with an 80-inch HD monitor of the other site, open stereo microphones to create a seminar learning environment, and a large “smartboard” to display PowerPoint presentations, videos, Excel spreadsheets, and other learning resources. People in the telepresence room can view others at a distant site as if they were viewing them through a “window on the wall” according to Bob Hatfield, associate dean of Graduate Programs and Research in the Gordon Ford College of Business. The room is ideal for seminar-style meetings.

Companies and organizations that have ideas about how WKU’s Telepresence Center might meet a communication or meeting need should contact Doug Rohrer, associate vice president of research and development at the CRD at (270) 901-3490 or email douglas.rohrer@wku.edu.