Tennessee Colleges Offer Coursework on Cutting Edge
Published Apr 07, 2002
‘DJ Liebe’ (love) is the creation of Jeff Damron, a graduate student at ETSU’s Digital Media Center. Created using Alias/Wavefront Maya and Adobe Photoshop, the image is the artist’s interpretation of the life and works of German film director Tom Tykwer.
At East Tennessee State University, students are pushing the limits of computer animation. At Middle Tennessee State University, students are cementing their future in concrete. And at the University of Memphis, students will soon be cranking technology up a notch.
From Johnson City to Murfreesboro to Memphis, and at more than a dozen college campuses in between, the Tennessee Board of Regents system offers a range of academic programs as wide as the Volunteer State itself. Many of the programs are partnerships with industry, providing unique opportunities for achievement and advancement from the nation’s sixth-largest system of higher education.
The engineering design graphics program at ETSU is a glowing example. The program started simply as training in computer-aided design for manufacturing and architectural construction. As technology has evolved, the curriculum has expanded. Today, students can work toward digital media undergraduate and graduate degrees in the specialized areas of product design, hypermedia, multimedia or visualization.
Dr. James Hales was dean of ETSU’s College of Applied Sciences and Technology a decade ago when he realized the need for a high-end computer graphics degree program.
“I could see that this was where the industry was going and the opportunities for students in those areas,” Hales says. “We hit a gold mine.”
The program soared to new heights in January 2001 with the dedication of the Scott M. Niswonger Digital Media Center in the Adelphia Centre at Millennium Park. Students in ETSU’s Department of Technology use three labs in the modern facility for advanced work on various Alias/Wavefront software platforms.
“What makes us unique is our partnership with major software developers across the industries we represent,” says Hales, the program’s interim director. “This enables students to hit the ground running because they’re thoroughly schooled in the applications of the software.”
Many ETSU digital media graduates have found work in the entertainment industry, including cable networks and other media companies. Others are involved with manufacturing firms in product design, as well as in marketing and advertising. Many former students now teach digital media at the college level.
“Our success speaks for itself,” Hales says. “At one point we were one of six schools in the world with the software and industry recognition.”
Halfway across the state, in Murfreesboro, Middle Tennessee State University is developing its own model program in the often-misunderstood field of concrete industry management. Austin Cheney, the program’s director, says there’s more to concrete than mixing cement with water and pouring slabs.
“People only see the finished product or they see the labor positions, and that’s the image of the industry,” he says. “There’s a white-collar side to the concrete industry that most people are not aware of.”
Several years ago, industry representatives approached the university and explained that there was a huge demand for trained professionals in the field. “They said they needed people not only with business skills but with the technical know-how,” Cheney says.
With the industry’s help, Cheney and MTSU’s Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Studies developed a concrete industry management (CIM) curriculum with nine unique concrete-related courses. The courses cover three broad areas: concrete material science, concrete construction technology and techniques, and applied management relating to the concrete industry.
Currently, more than 100 MTSU students are pursuing bachelor of science degrees in concrete industry management. Cheney credits two industry advisory groups for creating “a model program of academic and industry collaboration.”
The CIM Patrons is a grass-roots group made up of a national network of industry professionals who provide daily support to the program and mentoring for its students. Meanwhile, the National Steering Committee includes executives from the concrete industry who provide curriculum guidance and financial support.
“It’s a true partnership,” Cheney says. “The companies help us develop the curriculum and then help oversee it.”
Cheney says students actually begin their careers the first day they enter the MTSU program. In many cases, students become familiar with their future employers early through company-sponsored social events and recruiting visits.
“It’s the only program of its kind in the world that we know of,” Cheney says.
At the other end of the state, the University of Memphis is embarking on a cooperative venture with private business and various levels of government that will enable students to succeed in a high-tech, cross-functional business environment.
Ground was broken in May 2001 on a $38 million, state-of-the-art building that will house the FedEx Technology Institute. Inside the 92,000-square-foot, on-campus facility, students will blend traditional academic work with individualized training in solving real-world problems, according to chairman and executive director Jim Phillips.
“As machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence, and atoms are merged with bits, the FedEx Technology Institute will be involved with the digital re-architecting of business, education, government, health care and the arts,” he says.
When completed in summer 2003, the FedEx Technology Institute will emphasize broadband Internet content, virtual reality, wireless telecommunication and rapid application development. It will also involve research centers and artificial intelligence, e-logistics and biotechnology, information technology and nanotechnology.
Phillips – a U of M alumnus and former executive with Motorola, Nortel and Oak Ridge-based iPIX – considers the institute’s public-private partnership something other universities will envy.
“I think it will truly differentiate [U of M] from every school in the country,” he says. “It will be the envy of Stanford and Harvard. They would all love to have a FedEx Institute.”
Story by Noel Neff
Photo by Jeff Damron
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