About Illinois State University
Illinois State University, located in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, is the state’s first public university. Founded in 1857, the school boasts an enrollment of approximately 18,000 undergraduate and 2,300 graduate students. According to its mission statement, the University is committed to fostering a small-college atmosphere with large-university opportunities. It strives to promote the highest academic standards, while creating the most supportive and productive community possible. The University employs 3,560 people, including 1,224 departmental faculty.
Illinois State University has received numerous awards for its academic achievements as well as its campus life. It was named 78th in U.S News & World Reports’ 2017 America’s best public national universities, based on academic quality and excellence. College Factual ranked the University the 22nd best college for the money, out of 1,200 schools, and included it among the country’s best universities for veterans. Illinois State University is also listed among the best schools for military by Military Advanced Education & Transition and Victory Media’s Military Friendly Schools. Bloomington-Normal regularly ranks in the top 50 college towns in America.
Challenge
Illinois University wanted to find a digital A/V solution for its classrooms that would allow faculty to easily switch between different video sources in 320 classrooms. The University had added more technical systems in its classrooms beginning in 2009, but system incident rates increased, rather than decreased. Faculty had trouble using the systems. The University wanted to switch all of the classrooms to digital, but it wanted to ensure that the systems were easy to use, preventing even higher incident rates.
Solution
The Kramer custom integrator recommended the Kramer VP-728 9–Input ProScale® Presentation Scaler/Switcher, VP-730 Presentation Switcher/Scaler, and VP-773A 8–Input HDMI & HDBaseT ProScale Presentation Switcher/Scaler with 2K support and audio power amplifier. By installing one of these units in each of the classrooms, Illinois State was able to convert all 320 classrooms to digital capabilities with easy-to-use interfaces.
Our Challenges
Kramer challenges were to convert all 320 rooms with the appropriate scaler/switcher, so that using the equipment would be seamless for the faculty, no matter where they were teaching.
Results
The Kramer switchers have allowed the A/V specialists at Illinois State University to provide faculty with a standard set up and list of equipment for each classroom. “[Faculty] has the exact same set up [in each room] where they can go from room to room and know what’s going to be there, such as a computer, document camera and the like, and Kramer has the switching core. We put a standard user interface in and they know that if they press ‘computer’, the magic happens and the computer shows up on their projector, and they don’t have to think about it,” says Doug Smith, director, learning spaces and audio/visual technologies at Illinois State University.
Customer Feedback
While the number of rooms with technology has increased significantly since 2009, Smith says the incident rate has plummeted. “As we ramped up our responsibilities, the number of times we had to go in and revisit rooms just kept dropping,” says Smith. “The impact has been staggering.”
In addition, he says the Kramer solution has saved the University money. “The product is rock-solid, the [Kramer] support is rock-solid and [the solution] saves me money every time I turn around,” says Smith.
A graduate of DeVry Institute of Technology, Doug has been in the Technology industry since 1976 and actively oversees Fearing’s daily operations. Along with his wife, Lois, and three others, Doug started Fearing’s in a 600 square-foot facility in Portage, Wisconsin. In the 25 years since, the company has grown to over 30 employees with offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Doug likes to say he’s a “TV Technician with a dream� going back to his history with the family’s original business-Fearing’s TV and Appliance.
Doug values time with family, watersports, hiking, snowshoeing and skiing. In addition to being a devoted member of his church, Doug serves as Board President for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County, Board member of Schools for Haiti and Scripture Chair of the Gideons-Portage camp.
A graduate of MATC, Lois oversees Fearing’s daily book keeping along with various HR responsibilities.
Along with Doug, Lois is deeply connected to community outreach, serving as a Board member and Fundraising Committee Chairperson for Kinship Mentoring of Columbia County. She also serves on the Schools for Haiti Fundraising committee. In addition, Lois’ ongoing passion and commitment to provide care for the elderly comes from her 10-year history of working in a Reedsburg, Wisconsin Nursing home.
Lois enjoys singing, hiking, sunny days on the pontoon, and spending time with her 4 grandchildren.
Ehren drives Fearing’s technology by continually seeking out trends to enhance capabilities while supporting Sales, Engineering and Installation teams. Throughout his years with Fearing’s, Ehren’s talent and vision have joined forces to create a wide variety of projects and strategic solutions that exceed expectation.
Ehren loves music, family time, movies, nature, sustainability efforts and electric vehicles.
With 10 years with Fearing’s and over twice that long in the industry, Ben continues to lead, coordinate, and develop the Commercial AV team.
By consistently delivering an outstanding experience and outcome, Ben contributes to the Fearing’s legacy of long-lasting partnerships that truly make a difference. Whatever the Commercial AV need may be, Ben and team deliver at the highest level.
Ben is an avid fisherman and photographer. He enjoys coaching his sons and other youth.
Chris has been with Fearing’s for 20 years and in the industry for over 2 decades. As a Certified leader in Sales Acceleration and trained in EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating Systems), Chris successfully utilizes his skills to lead the Fearing’s Salesforce. Chris and team are motivated and driven to develop new client partnerships while continuing to reinforce loyal long-term relationships with ongoing Service excellence.
Married for 19 years with 3 children, Chris enjoys skiing, hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, camping and golf. He’s also been actively involved as a Youth Football and Softball coach for his family and others.
