ITHACA, N.Y. – John Lukach has been named Cornell Athletics' Director of Multimedia, Production and Web Communications it was announced today. Lukach will take over the department's leadership in all multimedia efforts, including its channel on the Ivy League Digital Network.

"With the launch of the Ivy League Digital Network this Fall, we needed to bring in someone who had a deep understanding of new media and had demonstrated excellence in video production and editing," said Jeremy Hartigan, Cornell's Director of Athletic Communications. "John stood out among a strong pool of candidates and we're excited about what the future holds for our fans, alumni and friends who will benefit from his knowledge and skill. John is already off to a running start and we expect that we'll only see significant improvement in both the quality and the consistency of our broadcasts."

The newly created position in athletics will coordinate and produce the department's live streaming operations, assist in the production of the Schoellkopf Field video board, assist in the management of the department's web and social media efforts and serve as the school's liaison to the Ivy League Digital Network.

Lukach spent the last year as the video and new media intern at the America East Conference as the league started implementation of its own digital network. He produced original content that included features, highlights and promos for the web site. He also created graphics, logos, flyers and print/web /digital materials for the league office and conference members. He redesigned the conference's blog, managed the league's YouTube channel and collaborated with the conference's membership to help create video storage for all sports.

Prior to his time with the America East, Lukach was a two-year graduate assistant at his alma mater, Akron, where he acted as lead provider for the Zips Vision projection system. He managed the stream and in-house production for more than 200 sporting events a year and grew the department from a handful of students to more than 20 members. He created a majority of game day video content and coordinated game presentation. Lukach coordinated production of the 2012 MAC Baseball and Softball championships, directed video operations for the men's soccer national championship run in 2010 and assisted the Cleveland Cavaliers in production of their Wine and Gold Scrimmage. He previously spent two years as a student assistant working with Zips Vision.

In addition, Lukach worked as a media relations assistant at the 2013 NCAA women's basketball Final Four and worked in the media center at the 2011 WGC Bridgestone Invitational.