Union College Named Centernet Site

College partners with Center for Rural Development to provide Community Technology Center

Knox County residents will soon have access to Internet services and video-conferencing facilities at Union College. The Center for Rural Development, located in Somerset, Ky., has announced that Knox County will become the next county to participate in CenterNet, a regional network that is bringing new telecommunications capabilities to 40 counties in southern and eastern Kentucky. The network features both Internet services and high-quality video conferencing, which allows individuals to communicate across long distances with both video and audio contact.

Knox County’s Community Technology Center will be located in two buildings on the Union College campus. The College will provide free public Internet access in the Weeks-Townsend Memorial Library Reference Room. The video conference room will be located on the first floor of the Sharp Academic Center, which is currently under construction. The facility will be available through advanced scheduling Monday through Friday, including evenings and most Saturdays.

Hosting the CenterNet site on Union’s campus supports ongoing cooperative efforts between the community and the College. The College has been directly involved in community initiatives since 1996, including the launch of locally-owned Internet services, the rehabilitation of College Street, and UC INSTITUTES, a life-long learning program that serves as a gateway for personal and professional development activities.

"The Community Technology Center will improve the public’s access to education and life-long learning," said Tara Cooper, Union’s director of learning and information services. "The College is also committed to providing leadership and collaborating with local and area leaders to facilitate economic development opportunities. This Center is just one of many ways in which we can bring growth to our community."

The CenterNet project is made possible by a $7 million grant from the Small Business Administration. According to Pam Bridgman, CenterNet project manager, the Small Business Administration and the Center for Rural Development expect the technology to be used as a business recruitment and workforce development tool.

"Using the technology, a factory foreman can communicate with corporate headquarters in any part of the world,’ Bridgman explained. "Employees can receive job-related training. Teachers, doctors, lawyers and others can receive continuing education credits by attending courses offered through video-conferencing without leaving their communities. The number and type of applications possible using the technology are truly limited only by the imagination."

There are currently 17 counties in the network, with one county under construction and another 10 approved for installation in the near future. Each county has a room-based video conferencing system that can accommodate 10-15 individuals. Desktop videoconferencing is also scheduled for implementation. This feature will allow individuals at different locations to view and edit the same document. Every county site is also outfitted with four public access computers that provide Internet access and Microsoft Office.

The Center for Rural Development partners with each county to implement the network. Businesses, government, community groups and others in each county commit to the ongoing operational costs of the network. The partners in the county also provide a support staff and a facility to host the equipment. The Center for Rural Development provides overall project management, design and installation, maintenance schedule, help desk, training, and programming services to each of the counties.

June 8, 2000

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