Penn State Creates International Village For Distance Education Conference

5-22-97
University Park, Pa. -- For one week in June, East Residence Halls at Penn State will be transformed into an international village for more than 400 distance educators and professionals from around the world.

These visitors will call the East Halls complex home during the 18th World Conference of the International Council for Distance Education (ICDE), hosted by Penn State June 2 to 6.

ICDE, headquartered in Oslo, Norway, is the only world association of open and distance learning institutions and professionals and of national and regional open and distance education associations. The organization holds world conferences every other year. This is the first time in many years that a world conference will be held in the United States.

"At the last ICDE World Conference in Birmingham, England, conference delegates expressed a desire to do more networking with colleagues," said Janet R. Patterson, senior conference planner with Continuing and Distance Education's Conferences and Institutes. "They were interested in low-cost, but high-quality housing."

For the 18th World Conference, Patterson proposed an international village concept, which received "overwhelming positive support" from participants at the Birmingham conference.

This is the first time Penn State has organized an international village, Patterson said. She is serving as coordinator of the village, which will be open from May 28 to June 9 to accommodate participants attending preconference workshops, as well as those vacationing in the area after the conference ends.

"The international village is intended to bring people together face-to-face in a welcoming and comfortable environment that is conducive to creating partnerships and making connections," she said.

Most conference participants are choosing to stay in the international village, which will be the center of social activities for the conference. The village will offer an information desk staffed 24 hours a day by Conferences and Institutes staff members, meeting rooms, music and other entertainment, dining halls and a snack bar, computer lab, Penn State Bookstore, travel services, shopping information, banking services and message centers.

There will be free bus transportation around Penn State and to State College and the surrounding area. The Lion Country Visitors' Bureau Ambassadors will host a welcome station in the village.

Conferences and Institutes staff members and staff members and volunteers from the University Office of International Programs will offer assistance during the conference.

Penn State's Housing and Food Services, under the direction of Nancy J. Watson, assistant manager of conference services, will provide housing and meals at the international village. Meals are being planned to meet the cultural and individual needs of participants.

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For information about the conference program, contact Anne Stevens at (814) 865-2143. For registration information, contact Janet Patterson at (814) 863-5127.

Contact: Deborah A. Benedetti (814) 238-4895 dab12@psu.edu