The bread and butter programs of the Ohio University School of Telecommunications are the undergraduate programs in audio, video and multimedia production. They attract the largest numbers of students and demand the greatest resources. It is logical that these programs and their faculty and students will be central to the research, training and outreach mission of the Institute for Telecommunications Studies.

Almost all the priority projects of the ITS, whether in satellite research, media training or international development, involve faculty and students from the production programs. A recent example is the Legacy Project managed by Multimedia Sequence head Roger Good to document the efforts of the IT Alliance of Appalachian Ohio (ITAA0). Both ITAAO and the School of Telecommunications have time, money and equipment invested in this partnership facilitated by the ITS.

Telecommunications faculty member Sandra Sleight-Brennan managed several projects under her Countdown to the Millennium initiative to bring multimedia technology and training into communities of the Appalachian region. She produced an award-winning radio series centered on these Appalachian development projects. Her work was funded by the Ohio Arts council, the 1804 fund, the School of Telecommunications and the Telecommunications Center. Most of her projects were carried out in cooperation with Rural Action, the largest community action organization in SE Ohio, with local schools, and with WOUB of the Ohio University Telecommunications Center.

During the days of the NASA ACTS experiments (1993-1996), Ohio University School of Telecommunications video production students were documenting these projects for the Huntington National Bank client and for NASA. OU students were on internship assignment at the NASA Lewis Research Center generating animations that were used in videos produced and aired by NASA.

OU students were involved in the Baltic media training programs, including television production practice. In working with the University of Riga in Latvia in 1994-1995, a film was produced that was shown on Riga television.

Early in his career, Don Flournoy was a commercial television producer and director. In his academic life he has make further practical use of this background. During 1989 and again in 1990, he wrote, produced, edited and distributed two video documentaries commissioned by the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology on the theme of Advanced Technologies in a Traditional Society.

The first documentary was funded by Boeing Commercial Aircraft and focused on aircraft manufacturing in Indonesia. The second was funded by UNOCAL Geothermal and focused on ship-building. Each was produced in the Indonesian language and in English, with significant involvement of TCOM students at Ohio University. Each was shown more than once on TVRI, the Indonesian national TV network, and used in the USA for the 1990-1991 Festival of Indonesia, which was the reason the videos were commissioned. One was a finalist in the 1991 New York International Film and Video Festival.

With the help of TCOM faculty member Michael Mirarchi, the ITS was able to produce a 28-minute video documentary on Ohio University's long-term relationship with the country of Botswana. A news item on this relationship, including excerpts of the commencement address of Botswana President Massire at Ohio University, aired on CNN World Report in June 1989.

A three-minute piece produced by Flournoy and Miranchi covering the national Congress of Indonesian Students meeting at Ohio University aired on CNN World Report in September 1989. Footage collected by Flournoy and Mirarchi during the 1987 Ohio University visit of Helen Suzman, anti-apartheid leader from South Africa, was made into a mini-documentary by Globalvision and distributed internationally.

With video production student Charlie Kendall, Don Flournoy arranged to have the May 1989 Ohio University visit of former President Jimmy Carter video taped. This material is now archived at Ohio University. Parts of this presentation were later used on-air by CNN and served as the basis for the Preface that Jimmy Carter later wrote for a book Don Flournoy published on Ted Turner and CNN.

From 1985-1995, Don Flournoy served as faculty advisor to the Ohio University student chapter of the International Television Association, the professional association of non-broadcast video producers. He accompanied OU students to Columbus, Ohio, each month to join the activities of the professional chapter there. The ITS served as host for the regional ITVA judging panels. The ITVA identified and honored each year on a national basis outstanding corporate video productions based on a process of submission and judging. These competitions were held at Ohio University.