Friday, April 12, 2002

H. E. "Hunter" Thompson Jr., director of Community Outreach Services with UNCW's Division for Public Service and Continuing Studies, received the North Carolina Distance Learning Association (NCDLA) Distinguished Service Award for university/four-year colleges at the annual Southeastern Regional Technology and Teaching Conference's 2002 Distance Learning Institute held April 10-11 at East Carolina University.

Diana Henshaw, NCDLA president, presented Thompson with the award in recognition of "his tireless work" with the North Carolina Information Highway since its inception as the Vision Carolina Project in the early 1990s. The honor also recognized Thompson for his work "to keep the NCIH a viable option for education, health care, and other entities and his work with practitioners, network engineers, elected officials, administrators and participants directly involved in distance learning opportunities, ensuring North Carolinians an equal opportunity to access information."

In addition to his position at UNC Wilmington, Thompson is chair of the North Carolina Connectivity Council and the Cape Fear Regional Partnership Network.

The NCDLA presents four Distinguished Service Awards each year in the categories of K-12, Community College, Four-Year University/College and Corporate/Nonprofit.

For more information, contact Thompson at 910/962-3138. A photo is available to download from the Web at www.uncwil.edu/news/releases/april/thompson_award.html.