Welcome from the Executive Director of ARE-ON…..

February 2009 marks the official transition of the United States to an all digital citizen of the global community.  Several years ago the higher education community took a bold step to create and artfully utilize a nationwide web of optical networks referred to as Regional Optical Networks (RONs).  Each year the leadership in more and more states is realizing the tremendous economic development potential that evolves when the research community is empowered with advanced cyber infrastructure, and the teaching faculty are enabled with significant increases in affordable bandwidth.  The Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network(ARE-ON) is the state of Arkansas’ entry into the ever-expanding RON family.

ARE-ON is a significant step forward for the state of Arkansas. Once a traditional agricultural state with fertile land provided by the meandering of massive rivers, and significant productivity provided by the hands and hearts of a rugged, yet gracious citizenry, Arkansas has embarked upon a digital age built around a river of information that has created multiple electronic “islands of opportunity”.  These islands will be bridged by a dynamic and forward-looking cyber infrastructure strategy that will continue to deploy appropriate technologies, and  leverage collaborative efforts of both research and teaching institutions. The common mission of all ARE-ON member institutions is to positively impact  economic development and opportunity for all citizens of the Natural State.

ARE-ON will remain on target, on task, and leaning forward to success as an important asset for the State of Arkansas. The best is yet to come.

WCET Conference After-Action Report – 10/24/09

The WCET national conference in Denver was both dynamic and informative. In spite of the challenging economic times, the conference was very well attended. WCET is basically the SREB Educational technology Cooperative of the western states; an excellent organization to help us grow our vision.

Although this time of year is very busy with numerous national conferences that relate directly to ARE-ON mission and goals, WCET invited me to present a session on a topic I call “Leveraging the Silent Stimulus”. Please see http://www.wcet.info/2.0/ to get a better idea as to the importance that WCET placed upon ARE-ON and our efforts to bring advanced cyberinfrastructure and appropriate applications together for the benefit of our students. The session was supported by presentations by our colleagues from New Jersey and California. As soon as the slides are posted I will forward them to the list.  Both NJ and CA have some outstanding e-applications that use their R&E resources into the classroom. Our session was very well attended, and was introduced by Dr. David Longenecker, President of WICHE, the parent organization of WCET. WICHE is the SREB of the western states. David only introduced the major plenary session of the conference, and our presentation.  This was quite an honor and validation for the hard work of our ARE-ON team. In the end, WCET is considering adopting the core message of our presentation as an area of focus for WCET in the future. In short, the work you are doing is impacting higher education nationwide.

The three day event was rich in content. Throughout the sessions, the main thread was the use of innovation, the move to Open Source tools, the nationwide push for more bandwidth for institutions, and the absolute requirement for true collaboration. I came away with a clear sense of validation with reference to the direction of ARE-ON. To me, the most important point of focus is the premier importance of collaboration. In short, no one has to lose for everyone to win. Please take a look at the WCET website to see the whole agenda’ if you want more detail then just let me know.

The next few months will be exciting as we turn up campuses statewide. Our team has many challenges as we move forward, but we also have a great deal of talent and dedicated intent to maximize the tools we are creating for the common good of the State of Arkansas. It became very clear to me that ARE-ON was on the radar of many states, and there was an expectation that Arkansas was an emerging leader in the realm of maximizing both technical and human resources. Your hard work is being appreciated far beyond our geographic borders.

Another significant fact is that the economic downturn has impacted many, many states to a much greater extent than we have seen this far.

In summary, the WCET conference was well worth the time and effort. Perhaps we will consider a statewide membership in WCET in the future. In addition, when possible, we should assemble a team of ARE-ON member institutional reps to attend the WCET yearly event. If you are interested then please let me know. ARE-ON has made it clear that we have arrived, and will continue to press forward as a leader in the realm of maximizing evolving technologies and collaborative opportunities. The fiscal limitations are real, but he spirit and innovation we share is strong enough to weather the storm.  My experience with catastrophic events and the importance of personal and group resolve to be successful tells me that the old saying we heard when we were youngsters is very true “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!”

The best is yet to come,

Mike