NEW YORK, NY -- April 6, 2004 -- The Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference 2004 (TCC 2004), and LearningTimes, the leading producer of online conferences and communities for education professionals, announced today that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) will lead a live interactive webcast addressing the needs of non-traditional students, on April 21, 2004 at 3:00 pm EDT.

Senator Clinton’s opening remarks will be followed by live interaction with the online audience and a discussion among leading experts in the community college movement, including: Joyce S. Tsunoda, Emeritus Chancellor for the Community Colleges, University of Hawaii; Mark David Milliron, President and Chief Executive Officer of the League for Innovation in the Community College; Abraham Lackman, President, Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities; and Thomas Flynn, President, Monroe Community College, SUNY. The panel is co-sponsored by the New York State Higher Education Initiative (NYSHEI).

Non-traditional students make up 47% of undergraduates today, and include people balancing their education with full-time jobs and parenting. Senator Clinton and Senator Bob Graham (FL) sponsored legislation to assist these students by increasing access to financial aid, rewarding schools for more flexible scheduling and expansion of remedial programs, among other initiatives

“Unfortunately, many of our current higher education policies make it harder for non-traditional students to complete their degree,” said Senator Clinton, “I look forward to addressing these issues with a global online audience of educators during this interactive webcast.”

“TCC 2004 and University of Hawai'i, Kapi'olani Community College are pleased to host this important discussion among such a prestigious panel of experts,“ said Bert Kimura, Coordinator of TCC 2004. “The event represents our continued commitment to bring the most current issues to our unique online forum for education, collaboration and networking.”

The TCC 2004 Online Conference will be conducted in a LearningTimes Conference Community, and will include over 30 live and recorded webcast presentations, discussion forums, interactive chat sessions, keynotes and featured speakers over three days, beginning April 20, 2004.

For more information about attending TCC 2004 and Senator Clinton’s interactive webcast, visit the conference website at http://tcc.kcc.hawaii.edu. For more information on the non-traditional student and the legislation co-sponsored by Senator Clinton and Senator Bob Graham (FL) go to http://clinton.senate.gov.

About TCC 2004
The TCC Online Conference is hosted annually, entirely online, by University of Hawai'i, Kapi'olani Community College in association with Osaka Gakuin University, Japan. Now in its ninth year, this event is designed to enable faculty, staff and administrators in higher education worldwide to share their expertise and engage in a productive dialog about innovations and practices in using technology for teaching and learning. For more information and registration visit http://tcc.kcc.hawaii.edu/.

About LearningTimes
LearningTimes, LLC designs and produces online learning conferences, communities, and events, and provides the platforms, applications and promotional expertise that make them successful. The LearningTimes Network of over 35 online communities and 15,000 members, connects learning-oriented groups and provides unique opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. Recent clients and partners include: The New York City Department of Education, Columbia Teachers College, St. John’s University, The New York Transit Museum, New Visions for Public Schools, The ICT Literacy Portal, The TLT Group, Workshops by Thiagi and InSync Training. For information visit http://www.learningtimes.net.

About NYSHEI

NYSHEI is a collaborative, member-supported organization that brings together New York's public and private institutions of higher education and their libraries. Its mission is ". . . to develop, enhance and preserve our research and educational services, collections and resources for the benefit of faculty, students, and the larger research community, and to promote new methods of scholarly communication." NYSHEI's 133 members represent over 70% of all eligible (accredited) institutions of higher education in the state, including all public and a majority of the private institutions. For information visit http://www.nyshei.org.