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Madison --  Dr. Jerald Tunheim, President of Dakota State University, will be a panelist at the National Conference of State Legislatures on July 26^th in Indianapolis.  The annual conference hosts 6,000 legislators. 

Dr. Tunheim will participate in the panel “High Tech Higher Education.”  Other panelists will be Frank Newman, President, Education Commission of the States; Sally Johnstone, Director, Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WICHE); and Christine Maitland, Higher Education Coordinator, NEA. 

“DSU’s recognition as a leader in technology and the recent Yahoo Internet Life magazine’s most wired college rankings have led to a number of opportunities to share DSU’s experiences with various constituency groups,” said Tunheim. 

The panel will explore how to maintain the quality of programs and degrees, deal with the new competitive environment, and prepare for the impacts on funding, tuition, and state support. 

“State legislators across the county are being asked for technology money to update their schools and they want to know more about the advantages of technology in education and what the realistic costs might be,” said Tunheim.  “The reality is that education will not cost less, but education without technology will be worth very little.  Technology is a requirement of educational institutions or systems.” 

Tunheim also presented at the International Conference on Cooperative Education in early July in Washington, D.C.  The panel focused on the roles of cooperative education in workforce development.

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