LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ -- Alumni who attend a Rider University Communications Department open house of its technological complex on Saturday, Oct. 12 from 2-4 p.m. during Homecoming Weekend will be treated to the unveiling on its new digital television center. The doors of the new TV center will open at 3 p.m. for the ribbon cutting ceremony.

"We want to present the studio to our alumni first and foremost," said Dr. Howard Schwartz, department chair. "They have a vested interest in seeing their alma mater stay abreast of the new technology."

Coupled with the high-tech journalism lab that went on line a year ago, the new TV center "makes us the foremost Communications Department of our size for technological capability in the east," Schwartz said.

The TV studio gives the department an impressive communications complex on the second floor of the Fine Arts Center. The studio is located on the north end of building with the J-lab just down the hallway. In between is a classroom dedicated to teaching audio and video production.

"The new studio gives us leading edge digital production capabilities," said Dr. Barry Janes, professor of radio and television production. "It brings the department's facilities under one roof. Our labs are technologically interactive and connected to the high speed campus network. Before, we had a small TV studio in the Student Center. This engenders in students this facility is a professional studio. It has the feel and look of a well-designed production facility."

Equipment in the TV center includes: two state-of-the-art Media 100 non-linear editing systems that work with Macintosh computers and such software as Adobe Aftereffects and Photoshop; three high-resolution JVC studio cameras capable of broadcast quality; three digital audio labs equipped with DAT recorders and computers using SoundEdit16 and Deck II software; an A-B roll editing suite that also serves as video control for the studio; and an expanded lighting system.

"Multimedia students, graphics students and TV students all can move their projects back and forth easily between the TV center and J-lab," said Janes. "This really increases the opportunities for sharing among the disciplines in our department."

The $400,000 TV center, funded mostly through the New Jersey Higher Education Facilities Trust program, creates a nearly $1 million communications complex for Rider.