Sometime Sept. 3 or 4, a projector was stolen from one of the university’s smart classrooms in Rogers-Stout Hall.
Michael Orr, a campus police detective working on the case, said the projector was reported missing by one of the Office of Information Technology staff members performing routine maintenance on the equipment.
Orr said the instructor using the room hadn’t noticed the projector was missing because it had not been used during class.
“Nobody seems to have seen anything,” Orr said.
There are currently no leads in the investigation, but Orr said he hopes anyone with information on the missing projector would contact campus police at 439-6900.
Orr said all the other projectors on campus are in place. “This is an isolated event,” he said.
The projector was one of many installed in Rogers-Stout over the summer.
“These were brand new,” Karen King, director of academic research, said.
The projector, which King estimates cost between $1,500 and $2,500, was installed as part ETSU’s continuing technological upgrade of all classrooms on campus.
“Eventually (smart) classrooms will be the norm, not the exception,” she said.
She said ETSU plans to install more multimedia in all the buildings on campus as money allows.
“Students expect more because of advancements in technology,” she said.
Students are learning in a different way in today’s society. ETSU campuses in Johnson City, Kingsport and Elizabethton are home to a combined 36 smart classrooms.
Rogers-Stout Hall has the largest concentration of high-tech classrooms at ETSU’s disposal with 20.
The amenities found in the new classrooms sound almost like a thief’s wish list. Most of the rooms are equipped with a computer, DVD player, zip drives, TV and VCR.
King said the university takes measures to protect its new technology from theft, but the added protection can add a bit of hassle.
“You don’t want to lock them up so tight that nobody can use them,” she said.

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