"This conference is the pacesetter in technology conferences in Texas. It is small enough to allow quality networking opportunities, yet attracts quality vendors as well as presenters from across the United States and several foreign countries."

Exclusive Distance-Educator.com Interview 
Distance-Educator.com (DEC):	Dr. Martinez, please tell us about your professional background, and how you became involved in the Distance Education Conference?
Dr. Martinez:	I have been associated with the Center for Distance Learning Research at  Texas A&M  University since 1997. As Director of Training, I am responsible for the development and delivery of training programs for school districts, community colleges, universities, business and government/military institutions in Distance Education. The Center provides training through a series of certification programs offering Continuing Education Units from Texas A&M as well as contracted on-site training designed to meet the needs of specific customers.   As Director of Program Evaluation, I develop independent evaluations for both technology and literacy programs, as well as develop evaluation plans for institutions to which the Center extends technical assistance.   I was elected to chair the 8th DEC 2001 Conference. Under the leadership of the CDLR team we initiated a web-based management system for the conference. Call for papers were received via the conference web page. The peer review of the presentations was conducted electronically. Conference registration and hotel reservations were completed on the web site. Conference proceedings were distributed to conference participants via CD format. Following the conference, the Conference Proceedings and the two keynote addresses were posted on the Center website. http://www.cdlr.tamu.edu/
DEC:	This will be the 9th year of the conference. How has it evolved over the years? What are its strengths?
Dr. Martinez:	The conference continues to reflect the level of technology implementation and technology sophistication through the presentations. Each year we have observed the content of presentations to be increasing in quality and relevant to the needs of the conference participants.  
DEC:	What are some of the program highlights this year?
Dr. Martinez:	One of the keynote speakers will be Ms. Suzanne Dubose, President of Verizon Foundation.  The Foundation will invest $70 Million in the communities that the corporation serves to increase literacy through technology support.. Also free pre-conference workshops will address cutting edge technologies and applications.
DEC:	Texas is one of the leading states in distance education. How do you see the conference evolving in the future in Texas, and throughout the country?
Dr. Martinez:	This conference is the pacesetter in technology conferences in Texas.  It is small enough to allow quality networking opportunities, yet attracts quality vendors as well as presenters from across the United States and several foreign countries.  
DEC:	How can the future attendees and presenters help in implementing these plans?
Dr. Martinez:	The conference will continue to increase in quality as presenters bring outstanding presentations and research.The most popular sessions continue to be the Show and Tell: This is the type of technology that we have This is how we obtained it and paid for it This is how we implemented our program These are the challenges we met This is how we solved our problems These are our future plans for growth
DEC:	Thank you Dr. Martinez.