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CREAD celebrates 10th anniversary with conference
Dr. Armando Villarroel (at the microphone), executive director of CREAD, makes a comment during the consortium’s 10th-anniversary conference in Caracas, Venezuela. From left, Patricia Avila, CREAD vice president for Mexico; Dr. Patricia A. Nelson, associate dean for outreach in Penn State’s College of Education and CREAD program director; and Dr. Patricia A. Book, associate vice president for outreach and executive director, Division of Continuing Education at Penn State, meet between sessions of CREAD’s 10th-anniversary conference. Dr. Gary E. Miller (foreground, at right), associate vice president for Distance Education and executive director of the Penn State World Campus, listens to a simultaneous translation of an address during the CREAD Commemorative Conference on Cooperation in Distance Education. He presented a workshop during the conference.	The Inter-American Distance Education Consortium (CREAD) celebrated its 10th anniversary with a Commemorative Conference on Cooperation in Distance Education: A Network for the New Millennium in the city where it was founded — Caracas, Venezuela. The National Open University of Venezuela organized the conference with other member institutions.   CREAD was organized at the International Council for Distance Education World Conference in 1990. Penn State became CREAD’s host institution in 1994.   According to Dr. Armando Villarroel, executive director of CREAD, “The objective of the conference was to examine the experiences and the progress of distance education at a global level in light of different cooperative actions and strategies, with special emphasis on the function of CREAD in its 10 years of existence. The conference sessions emphasized vertical collaboration within global diversity and horizontal collaboration between the countries of the Latin American subcontinent.”   CREAD is comprised of a network of individual and institutional members from throughout North, Central and South America. The consortium covers nine regions: Andean, Anglophone Canada, Brazil, Caribbean, Central America, Francophone Canada, Mexico, Southern Cone and the United States.   People who have played key roles in CREAD’s evolution were invited to present keynote addresses during the conference.   In her keynote address titled “Reflections on CREAD from its Host Institution — Penn State,” Dr. Patricia A. Book, associate vice president for outreach and executive director, Division of Continuing Education, said, “Penn State, as host institution, supports the efforts of CREAD in the development of inter-American distance education through interinstitutional cooperation, resource sharing and partnerships. I have witnessed the continuing progress the consortium has made during the past decade and since Penn State first hosted the inaugural conference of CREAD as an independent, membership-based professional organization in October 1993.   “Working with consortium members from across the hemisphere, CREAD’s outreach activities have included facilitating member institutions to offer training seminars, workshops and regional as well as international conferences to advance knowledge of distributed learning,” Book added. “CREAD has also facilitated the development of institutional partnerships. CREAD operationalizes the vision of taking advantage of new and emerging technologies to enable wider distribution of learning to serve dispersed and underserved audiences. CREAD serves as both a catalyst and an enabler of partnering among higher education institutions and other organizations for greater knowledge dissemination of distance education and resource sharing across North and South America. As a member and host institution, Penn State shares the vision of promoting democracy, advancing justice and improving the quality of life for all citizens through higher education in an increasingly networked yet diverse world.”   Other keynote speakers included: Dr. Ross H. Paul, founding president of CREAD and president of the University of Windsor, Canada; Dr. Gustavo Luis Carrera, interim president of CREAD and rector, Universidad Nacional Abierta, Venezuela; Dr. Pierre Van Der Donckt, former executive general secretary, Inter-American Organization for Higher Education, Canada; and Dr. David Sewart, director of student services, Open University, United Kingdom.   In addition, Dr. Gary E. Miller, associate vice president for Distance Education and executive director of the Penn State World Campus, presented a half-day workshop on “The Creation and Administration of a Virtual University.” Dr. Patricia A. Nelson, associate dean for outreach in Penn State’s College of Education and CREAD program director, presented a half-day workshop on “Developing Successful Funding Proposals,” with Lic. María Teresa Martínez, project coordinator for the Technical Institute of Monterrey, Mexico, and LASPAU: Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas at Harvard University; and Dr. Laura Niesen, dean of humanities and communications at Susquehanna University; and with assistance from Lic. Liz Pineda de Romero, professor of the Universidad Nacional Abierta de Venezuela and doctoral candidate at Penn State. Nelson also discussed “Experiences of Multinational Projects” during another conference session.   As part of the commemorative conference, CREAD has published a monograph that includes articles about issues, trends and best practices in distance education by representatives of the consortium’s nine regions. Nelson edited the monograph titled Ten Years of International Collaboration in Distance Education.   For more information about CREAD, visit the consortium’s Web site at www.outreach.psu.edu/CREAD/.