The University of Louisiana Monroe is a public university with almost 8,000 undergraduate students. In 2021, ULM began construction on an $11.6 million contemporary student center with five dining options, a small market, meeting areas, group seating, and more. ULM wanted an eye-catching and impressive signage display capable of displaying campus signage, communicating relevant school news, and streaming sports games. NEC’s outdoor digital display has become a central platform for school signage and news – as well as a place for students to check in on their favorite sports teams between classes.
Background
The University of Louisiana Monroe is a public university with almost 8,000 undergraduate students. In 2021, ULM began construction on a new student building to be named, The HUB. An $11.6 million facility, The HUB is a contemporary student center with five dining options, a small market, meeting areas, group seating, and more. As a symbol
of campus life for current and prospective students, The HUB is also available for club meetings, student gatherings, and other community events. In replacing ULM’s former Student Union Building, built in 1938, The HUB exemplifies ULM’s commitment to student and faculty needs, technological advancement, and enhancement of campus life.
Custom Needs
In planning the design of the space, an important element of The HUB was the outdoor entertainment space, including plans for a large mounted LED display wall on the northeast side of the building. ULM wanted an eye-catching and impressive signage display capable of displaying campus signage, communicating relevant school news, and streaming sports games – a passion shared by many of ULM’s students.
The display unit installed needed to be durable, integrated for various inputs, and have a vivid and bright image. Additionally, with ULM’s largest dormitory directly across the street from the Hub, automatic sensors for brightness adjustment at night was a must-have to avoid disrupting student sleep schedules.
Easy to Work with and Turnkey
With an understanding of ULM’s needs, Bluum, the audio and visual provider for the project, reached out to the leading providers of display solutions, including Sharp.
Scott Albarado, Account Executive at Bluum, said, “I recommended Sharp because they were easier to work with, the quote came quickly, and most importantly, they did a turnkey package for an LED display. Other companies would give us a quote just on the outdoor display, which meant we had to get a separate price for the custom mounting mechanism and a separate price for the installation. From Sharp, we got one quote that included the custom display, the mounting mechanism, and installation for this specialized project. Sharp made it so much easier.” With ULM having already implemented other NEC projectors and LEDs in other areas of campus, NEC was a logical fit for Bluum and The University of Louisiana Monroe.
ULM’s Director for Information Technology, Chance Eppinette, said, “We wanted to be sure that the visual quality was nice no matter what distance an individual may be from the screen. With as large of a screen as it is, you can get close to it and still have good visual perception of the image.” With a pixel pitch of 3.9 mm and overall size of approximately 16.4’ x 6.56’, this LED Q039E2 is the ideal option for both close and distance viewing.”
ULM hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for The HUB on August 12, 2022, and opened the student center at the end of the same month. Since The HUB opened, it has become the most popular building on campus for students to gather, study, eat, and connect. NEC’s outdoor digital display has become a central platform for school signage and news – as well as a place for students to check in on their favorite sports teams between classes. As an easily adaptable and high-quality LED platform in a high-traffic area of the building and campus, the sky is the limit for ULM and its students as they explore the capabilities of NEC’s video wall.
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.
