SREB President Mark Musick said: "Jim Mingle’s knowledge and experience brings to the Distance Learning Policy Laboratory a person who has been successful helping state leaders solve common problems and create uncommon opportunities. Creating the links and overcoming the barriers to enable distance learning to achieve its potential are as much about building arrangements based on personal relationships as they are about technical connections, and Jim Mingle knows how to do both.

"His work with the Policy Laboratory will be a big plus for distance learning in America."

"I look forward to working with the Distance Learning Policy Laboratory as we deal with issues that impact one of the most exciting aspects of higher education: learning offered online," said Mingle.

The Distance Learning Policy Laboratory was created to deal with issues — such as arbitrary out-of-state tuition costs — that are hindering the growth of distance learning. The laboratory is working with the 16 SREB states to create electronic tuition rates for distance learning courses that can replace in-state and out-of-state charges.

Jim Mingle is a member of the Distance Learning Policy Laboratory Leadership Group and helped create the electronic rate proposal. Mingle noted that several SREB states already have moved to electronic rates.

The electronic tuition rates:

• are set by each state or institution and can vary among states and institutions;
• apply to all students who take the courses electronically;
• are based on a reciprocal agreement among SREB states; and
• are built on the success of SREB’s Academic Common Market, through which states have shared academic programs for more than 25 years.

The Distance Learning Policy Laboratory works in conjunction with SREB’s Electronic Campus, which has become the nation’s most successful marketplace of distance learning courses in the last two years. More than 3,500 courses and 150 degree programs are offered by more than 275 colleges and universities on the Electronic Campus, www.electroniccampus.org.

During his tenure at SHEEO, a national association of statewide coordinating and governing boards in 49 states and Puerto Rico, Mingle has stressed distance learning and information technology. As the founding executive director, Mingle helped establish SHEEO as a leading voice in American higher education. He is widely published and has served as a consultant on higher education in states nationwide.

The Distance Learning Policy Laboratory will address other potential barriers to distance learning, including those that impair access and quality. Roy McTarnaghan, former president of Florida Gulf Coast University, is director of the Distance Learning Policy Laboratory.

The SREB member states, which also are involved in the Electronic Campus and the Distance Learning Policy Laboratory, are Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.