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ºÙºÙÊÓƵ has launched its own iTunes U site that features free access to audio and video files on campus news, faculty research, interviews, music, athletics and academic courses.

The Apple Inc.-hosted site can be reached through the ºÙºÙÊÓƵ portal at . Apple began promoting the ºÙºÙÊÓƵ site on its main iTunes U site beginning today.

ºÙºÙÊÓƵ is among the first 52 colleges and universities nationwide -- and the second UC campus, following UC Berkeley -- to establish a free iTunes U site within the company's iTunes Store.

"This project gives ºÙºÙÊÓƵ a great opportunity to take advantage of free, existing technology and to help a vast audience come to know more about our programs and academic strengths," said Lisa Lapin, assistant vice chancellor for University Communications.

The audience for ºÙºÙÊÓƵ on iTunes U includes many of the campus's prospective and incoming students who expect to be able to find ºÙºÙÊÓƵ in all of the places they frequent online, Lapin added.

Members of the campus community are now being urged to not only be iTunes U users but contributors, too. They can begin putting media recordings up on ºÙºÙÊÓƵ on iTunes U by following directions offered on the ºÙºÙÊÓƵ portal .

"It is IET's goal to provide our faculty, students, staff and visitors with easy access to ºÙºÙÊÓƵ' high-quality audio and video recordings that are both of immediate interest and long-lasting value," said Elizabeth Gibson, director of Information and Educational Technology-Academic Technology Services.

For the ºÙºÙÊÓƵ on iTunes U launch, the site has been populated with nearly 50 videos, mostly developed by University Communications' Broadcast Unit. Also included are speakers' series produced by IET-Academic Technology Services' Media Services Unit as well as "Frontiers," a 30-minute-long public affairs TV interview program jointly produced by University Communications and Academic Technology Services.

ºÙºÙÊÓƵ on iTunes U also includes longer news features, such as the 2005 "Farm vs. Farm" video, which recounts ºÙºÙÊÓƵ' upset of Stanford in football; a profile of ºÙºÙÊÓƵ teaching prize winner Zuhair Munir; the campus's "Sustaining ºÙºÙÊÓƵ" video on campus sustainability; and TV host Huell Howser's tour of ºÙºÙÊÓƵ, "Road Trip: ºÙºÙÊÓƵ." The site also features many brief "NewsWatch" segments about ºÙºÙÊÓƵ, including our campus olive oil production, the future of plug-in hybrid vehicles, and a historian's insights into Buffalo Bill and his era.

ºÙºÙÊÓƵ faculty members are encouraged to add academic courses to ºÙºÙÊÓƵ on iTunes U. Bernd Hamann, a professor of computer science, is the first faculty member to put a course, "Advanced Visualization (ECS277)," on the site.

Windows or Mac OS users can obtain free iTunes software from the iTunes site . They can then download files and play them on an MP3 player, Mac or PC, or burn a copy onto a CD.