Pellissippi State’s top faculty, staff members named for 2004-05

Media Technologies program approved

Pellissippi State is starting a degree program in Media Technologies and erecting a new building to house the program.

The program will confer an associate’s degree on students who successfully complete one of four media technology concentrations: Communication Graphics Technology, Video Production Technology, Photography or Web Technology.

In October 2003, Pellissippi State received a $1.7 million Title III strengthening and development grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop and implement two new Career Tech programs at the College: Media Technologies and Security Engineering and Administration Technology.

The grant is being used to support equipment purchases and upgrades, provide training for faculty in the use of new program technologies and boost student enrollment in and graduation from the two programs.

The Tennessee Board of Regents and Tennessee Higher Education Commission have approved the startup of these programs.

The Media Technologies degree program will begin this month, with the start of the fall semester.

The Security Engineering and Administration Technology program, which has been planned with the assistance of local security administrators from such agencies as TVA, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Knoxville Police Department, will begin in January. Students interested in the Security program can begin taking general courses now.

Pellissippi State’s Media Technologies program is designed to provide students with the training and equipment necessary to produce informational and marketing materials through a variety of media—print, broadcast, photographic image and computer. Students must complete 60 credit hours, including 38 in one of the four concentrations, to earn an associate’s degree.

Before creating the Media Technologies program, the College had separate two-year degree programs in which students could major in Communications Graphics Technology, Video Production Technology or Web Technology, or General Technology with a concentration in Photography.

Because of rapid advances in communications, boundaries that separate various forms of media are blending, so a new program incorporating all four media technology disciplines was considered to be especially beneficial to students.

With the help of professional advisors, the separate media technology programs at the College have tracked and incorporated the most significant advances into the Media Technologies curricula.

In January, for instance, Pellissippi State started offering several new and updated media technology classes, including courses in video production, sound production, beginning animation, advanced Web graphics, advanced Web page and site design, and advanced digital imaging techniques.

The new program should satisfy an increasing demand among businesses for people who are trained in sophisticated communications technologies, said James Bruns, vice president for Academic and Student Affairs. Enrollment in the program should increase about 10 percent over enrollment in the previous separate programs.

The College soon will start construction on a $6.8 million classroom building on the Pellissippi Campus to house Media Technologies.

The classroom project has been planned since 1992 and should be finished in time for the 2007-08 school year. In addition to space for Media Technologies studies, the new building will accommodate fine arts classes and exhibit areas and general classrooms.

The Pellissippi State Foundation, the main fundraising entity for the College, will raise money to help equip the building.

"Inside Pellissippi" is a bi-monthly electronic publication produced by the Community Relations Office for the faculty and staff of Pellissippi State Technical Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, P.O. Box 22990, Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0990. All suggestions and comments should be sent to Julia Wood (jwood@pstcc.edu).

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