Dr. Herb Riedel is Tri-County's New Arts and Sciences Division Chair

CONTACT: DR. HERB RIEDEL, EXT. 2314

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 8/4/2000
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- Technological resources for all arts and sciences classrooms, online courses, and meeting the division's needs for technology and professional development activities are just three "directions for growth" that Dr. Herb Riedel plans to pursue as the new chair of Tri-County Technical College's Arts and Sciences Division.

Dr. Riedel began his leadership role July 1 following Brenda Steele's June 30 retirement. For the past two years, he has led the Arts and Science's math department and will continue his role as the math department head until his replacement is identified.

He says it is "a great honor" to lead the Arts and Sciences Division, which incorporates all university transfer courses offered by the College, in addition to all the general educational courses for career programs.

"We are fortunate to have excellent technological resources for our classrooms, including multimedia computer presentation systems and, very soon, Internet access in all of our classrooms," said Dr. Riedel, who taught for 11 years at The Citadel and Trident Technical College and later served as president of an international marketing company for two years before coming to Tri-County. "I will work toward providing professional development opportunities for faculty to most effectively utilize the facilities available to them to enhance instruction," he said.

He says he hopes to offer many of the Arts and Sciences classes over the Internet within the next few years. English 101 is the first of those courses, which will be offered this fall. "The Internet provides a high degree of flexibility and convenience, which will be a great asset for those students who are right for this type of instruction. However the program needs to be managed properly to ensure proper coordination with on-campus instruction and maintain the same high standards of quality," he added.

"Today it is very popular for students to complete the first two years of their college education at a two-year institution like Tri-County because our emphasis is solely on quality teaching. We have small class sizes, affordable tuition, excellent computer labs, and a professional faculty dedicated to teaching. All of the Division's faculty have a minimum of a master's degree with 18 graduate hours in their subject area. Many also possess a doctorate in their area," said Dr. Riedel, who holds a B.S. in pure math and physics from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and a master's and Ph. D. in mathematics from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

"I look forward to the ongoing challenges of managing this dynamic division of the College and to continue to meet the needs of other areas of the College which rely on us for general education courses and to continually build and improve the transfer program," said Dr. Riedel.

He and his wife, Lisa, live in Seneca and have two children.
-30-