Extron AV Technology Helps Oakland Community College Train Michigan's Next Generation of Top Chefs

Anaheim, California (April 22, 2026) - Michigan’s Oakland Community College recently opened its ultramodern Culinary Studies Institute in a new three-story, 78,000-square-foot building on the Royal Oak campus. Throughout the facility, audiovisual technology plays a key role in hands-on learning that prepares students for careers in the food industry. Extron NAV Pro AV over IP distribution and switching underpins the building's extensive AV infrastructure. Over 100 NAV endpoints connect AV sources and displays in lobbies, lecture classrooms, demonstration classrooms, and teaching kitchens, as well as in public meeting spaces, restaurants, and cafes.

“Demonstration classrooms and teaching kitchens are equipped for live-streaming so lessons can be shared, recorded, and archived," says Cindy Carbone, Dean of Communication, Arts and Humanities at Oakland Community College. "All of our spaces are connected, very much like our chefs are connected and our students are connected. Which brings effective teaching and learning together. We are literally wired for success.”

In teaching kitchens, NAV encoders deliver HDMI from overhead cameras and instructor laptops to the AV over IP network. Live demonstrations and lecture presentations appear on flat panel displays and projector screens fed by NAV scaling decoders. Wireless mics give instructors hands-free freedom to narrate demonstrations. Extron SoundField ceiling speakers driven by Extron NetPA power amplifiers allow instructors to be clearly heard amid busy kitchen clatter. The AV over IP network extends to public areas like Flex Zone meeting venues and the Seasoned Oak fine dining teaching restaurant, where flat panel displays, projection screens, and videowalls show meeting presentations, public messaging, and ambiance at every turn.

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