Melinda Richards, Sharon S. Smith, Scott Boyd, Greggory Simerly, Anne L. Willingham

mrichards@mtsu.edu, sssmith@mtsu.edu, sboyd@mtsu.edu, gsimerly@mtsu.edu, awililng@mtsu.edu

Dale McGilliard

Speech and Theatre

Discipline specific equipment

Tucker Theatre/BDA

N/A

N/A

As a university our primary goal is to educate our students in such a manner as to present them with the best possible chance at graduate school placement or rewarding employment once they leave school. To that end we should allow them as many opportunities as possible to experience current technology. Due to our proximity to Nashville and the country music touring industry, we at MTSU are uniquely situated to graduate scores of students into the world of entertainment technology. Theatre, Mass Communication and Recording Industry students are trained to enter the workplace in their respective fields with the skills developed in Lighting Design for Arts and Entertainment using the theatrical tools of Tucker Theatre. In addition, annually 1600 Theatre Appreciation students and over 20,000 university students, faculty and community members are affected by this technology through student and community programming of lectures, concerts, dance shows and theatrical events. At current time our lighting technology is woefully outdated and as a result our students struggle to enter the workplace adequately prepared. With the addition of this new equipment we will develop the reputation of sending highly trained and thoroughly creative graduates into these fields.