Dec. 2, 2010
Contact: Harvey Levenson
805-756-6151; hlevenso@calpoly.edu
Cal Poly Journalism Department Upgrades Broadcast Program with
Help from Santa Barbara Camera Company
SAN LUIS OBISPO – As part of laboratory upgrades and collaboration with Samy’s Camera in Santa Barbara, Cal Poly’s Journalism Department has begun major improvements to its broadcast concentration.
To enhance the education students receive in broadcast journalism classes and during weekly CPTV Cal Poly local, national, and international broadcasts, Samy’s Camera provided the department with 18 Canon VIXIA HF R100 Camcorders and related peripherals in a special pricing arrangement. The cameras give students the opportunity to work with some of the latest camcorder technology available.
“The camcorders more than tripled the cameras available to students and provides each student in a laboratory class with access to a camera, enhancing Cal Poly’s learn-by-doing educational philosophy in preparing students to enter the profession,” said Harvey Levenson, interim chair of the Journalism Department.
Award-winning Central Coast broadcast journalist Tony Cipolla teaches the courses in which the cameras are used. “These cameras are compact, lightweight and easy to use,” Cipolla said. “For the first time, every student in class has a camera. We used them on Day One and have been using them ever since with great results.”
Samy’s Camera has always tried to support education at all levels, said Richard Konoske, a principal with the company. “We have had a 30-year relationship with Cal Poly,” he said, “and we look forward to the next 30 years.”
Because of the pricing and services being offered by Samy’s, Levenson said, the company will be the preferred source for photographic and related equipment needed to teach broadcast journalism a Cal Poly. As well, Samy’s will be given the opportunity to address students on some of the latest photographic technology presently available and on the horizon used in the journalism field.
About Cal Poly’s Journalism Department
Cal Poly’s Journalism Department (http://cla.calpoly.edu/jour.html) offers a professional program leading to a bachelor of science degree in journalism with concentrations in broadcasting, multimedia, news-editorial and public relations.
Journalism majors serve as staff members of departmental communications media, including the Mustang Daily; CCPR, the student-run public relations firm; KCPR, the FM-stereo radio station; and the news and programming operations of CPTV, Cal Poly’s TV station. The department sponsors student chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists, Radio-Television News Directors Association and the Public Relations Student Society of America.
Graduates of Cal Poly’s Journalism Department have reached positions of responsibility and authority nationally in corporations and media outlets including major publications, networks and network affiliates.
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