By Tiffany Ayuda

The University is giving faculty and administrators an opportunity to comment on local and national TV news without leaving campus. LiveLink is a new on-campus TV feed that allows the University community to listen and gain the perspective of University faculty who will discuss and tackle issues concerning business, politics, immigration, media, education, the arts and the economy. As experts in their field, the faculty can share their research and relate it to local, national, even international issues.

LiveLink came online earlier this year, according to Stuart Vincent, the assistant vice president of University Relations.

“The purpose of the system is to make our faculty and administration experts available to broadcast to cable TV news and talk shows when there is no time-or need-for them to run into Manhattan to the TV studios of MSNBC, CNN, Fox, CBS, etc,” Vincent said.

LiveLink is also used to raise the University’s profile as a “center of academic excellence,” which would attract a greater number of students interested in attending the University and drawing prominent faculty to teach, Vincent said. Current students can benefit from the additional elevation in the University’s academic reputation, Vincent added, making a degree from the University more valuable and influential in the professional world.

“Having LiveLink will make our experts more visible to regional and national audiences and help raise Hofstra’s profile. This adds even more value to a Hofstra education, which means that undergraduate and graduate students would benefit from the boost it gives to their careers,” Vincent said.

There are no producers for LiveLink and the University plans on borrowing a camera and microphones from Dempster Hall. Using a fiber optic hook-up through a company called Vyvx, it can connect to any TV station. Joseph Valerio is the chief video engineer who helped design and build the system at the University.

To facilitate the burgeoning program, the University sent news releases to producers and bookers of major broadcast and cable shows. Vincent said the University is constantly pitching it’s experts for major news stories.

Some faculty experts include Rosanna Perotti of the political science department, who specializes on issues of immigration reform, American politics, elections and the mass media; Carol Fletcher of the School of Communication, who specializes in news reporting and feature and magazine writing; Richard Himelfarb, who specializes in social security, government health care and Iraq war issues; and Lawrence Levy, the executive director of the Center for Suburban Studies who specializes in issues involving suburban politics and local governments.

With LiveLink, the University can send video feed from Dempster Hall to television networks such as CNN, which is often broadcast in Dempster’s new converged newsroom. (Stephen Cooney)