The Penn State Hazleton physical education building, set atop the hillside campus overlooking Pennsylvania's Butler Valley, was selected as the site of a special CNN town hall meeting moderated by Lou Dobbs called "Broken Borders," which examined issues related to legal and illegal immigration.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Two days before the CNN town hall event "Broken Borders" was set to air live from the Penn State Hazleton campus, CNN special event crew members were busy assembling bleachers, rigging dozens of set lights and unfurling banners to be hung inside and outside the building.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

After the panels of lighting were raised, set lighting had to be adjusted one by one to create camera-friendly visual effects inside the Penn State Hazleton gymnasium.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

After adjusting the lighting on the day before the town hall event, some CNN production team members paused to admire their work inside Penn State Hazleton's phsyical education building.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

In a matter of a few days Penn State Hazleton's basketball court became a television set for the Lou Dobbs town hall meeting "Broken Borders." About 30 CNN special events staff and production crew members arrived from their Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New York locations to execute the hour-long, live-audience show.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

CNN host Lou Dobbs, who hosted his nightly hour-long show "Lou Dobbs Tonight" prior to the live Hazleton, Pa., town hall meeting "Broken Borders," arrived on the Penn State Hazleton campus around 1 p.m. The town hall event brought together an array of polarized Hazleton community members and a 10-member panel of experts from across the country to discuss social, financial and governmental issues related to legal and illegal immigration.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Lou Dobbs talked with a Penn State Hazleton student and faculty member outside the phsyical education building as he arrived on campus. Dobbs and the student shared stories about their track and field experiences.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

To help stage the town hall, "glowgos" of the CNN and "Lou Dobbs Tonight" logos were flashed on Penn State Hazleton's gymnasium walls. A Penn State Hazleton banner identified the location of the event.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

The Penn State Hazleton physical education building's gymnasium walls were transformed using strategically placed colored lights.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Penn State student volunteers and a CNN crew member sit in as panelists while another crew member plays moderator during an early-afternoon rehearsal.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

"Broken Borders" panelist Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, met with CNN town hall host Lou Dobbs and Penn State Hazleton Chancellor John Madden shortly after Dobbs arrived on campus.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Brent Wilkes, Lou Dobbs and Penn State Hazleton Chancellor John Madden chatted outside the campus physical education building, where the live town hall meeting "Broken Borders" was held.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

A total of approximately 350 audience members -- 250 on the set and 100 who watched from the upper gymnasium bleachers -- checked in about an hour before the show. They included local residents as well as Penn State Hazleton students and employees. Several audience hopefuls had to be turned away by CNN staffers due to space limitations.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

On-set audience members selected by CNN staffers were given assigned seating on one of four sets of metal bleachers surrounding the oval, carpeted stage.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Overflow crowds that included Penn State Hazleton students, faculty and staff, several of whom assisted with the event's logistics, saw the show from above and behind a large screen on the gymnasium floor that served as the set's backdrop.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

From either end of the gymnasium's upper level, Penn State Hazleton faculty, staff and students got closeup views of the live show via flat-screen TVs while cameras took aerial views of the proceedings.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

As the final minutes wound down before the town hall meeting started, a producer gave instructions to the audience and explained the show's structure.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Just as airtime of the live town hall meeting began, "Broken Borders" producers and crew spoke with a lively audience member who had left his seat. Many audience members, who were carefully selected by the CNN production team to represent a spectrum of perspectives, voiced their concerns passionately during the hour-long special.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

A TelePrompTer and adjacent second screen displaying the broadcast assisted the host and panelists -- and gave many in the on-stage and balcony audiences a glimpse of how live television is produced.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Dobbs began his Hazleton town hall, about legal and illegal immigration issues, by speaking to the audience alone on the set, which was near center court of Penn State Hazleton's physical education building.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

A view from the gymnasium balcony position where Dobbs had finished a live broadcast of his nightly show, "Lou Dobbs Tonight," revealed the CNN logo lighting and Penn State Hazleton banner that helped to transform the gym into a television set.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

During a commercial break, the next set of town hall panelists were brought onto stage and greeted by Dobbs.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Within minutes of the show's conclusion, CNN's special events crew began tearing down the set and filling dozens of containers with equipment. They had to be on the road to their next location within 12 hours after the end of the Hazleton town hall meeting.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

After the show the control panel was dismantled and miles of cable, nine cameras, five flat-screen TVs, dozens of lights and the entire set had to be broken down and repacked. What took several days to erect had to be removed within a half-day due to tight production schedules.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

At the town hall meeting's conclusion, many audience members approached show host Lou Dobbs to speak with him.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Before he left campus to return to New York, Lou Dobbs posed for a group shot with Penn State Hazleton students, many of whom are student government officers, Lion Ambassadors and THON leaders.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Lou Dobbs signed autographs for Penn State Hazleton students who volunteered to help as ushers, runners and stagehands.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

A producer from CNN watches from atop bleachers as the audience disperses and the show's crew scrambles to begin tearing down the set.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

When the town hall show ended, Dobbs graciously posed for photos with local dignitaries and key staff from the Penn State Hazleton campus. Susan Bartal, public information officer, was one of dozens of Hazleton campus employees who worked diligently to assist the CNN crew with behind-the-scenes preparations.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

After the show the control panel was dismantled and miles of cable, nine cameras, five flat-screen TVs, dozens of lights and the entire set had to be broken down and repacked. What took several days to erect had to be removed within a half-day due to tight production schedules.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007

Within minutes of the show's conclusion, CNN's special events crew began tearing down the set and filling dozens of containers with equipment. They had to be on the road to their next location within 12 hours after the end of the Hazleton town hall meeting.

Photo Credit: Jill Shockey / Penn State Public Information

Year Taken: 2007