07/17/96

Contact: Gordon Pettey, Ohio University, 614/593-1855

ATHENS, Ohio -- Gordon Pettey, assistant to the director of Residence & Campus Auxiliary Services at Ohio University, has been elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the Association of Higher Education Cable TV Administrators (AHECTA).

AHECTA, formerly known as the Collective of Campus Cable Operators and Administrators (COCCOA), represents more than 100 colleges and universities with campus TV networks.

Pettey oversees Ohio University's residence hall cable TV network (CATVision). The network is operated in cooperation with the university's Telecommunications Center and provides 62 channels of entertainment, educational and foreign language programming.

"Campus TV administrators face increasing challenges as the integration of communications technologies involves them in everything from the provision of entertainment programming to interactive distance-learning projects and multi-media retrieval systems," Pettey said.

Pettey joined Ohio University in 1982. In addition to dealing with various budget and planning issues, his responsibilities centering around the residence and dining halls on campus have included developing a renovations program, overseeing installation of telephone, computer and cable TV systems, and running the access control system.

AHECTA provides a forum for cable administrators to share expertise on emerging technologies and new program initiatives. The group also is exploring cooperative purchasing agreements for TV programming.