Students win degrees off campus

Three students will get degrees in electrical engineering from Iowa State University tomorrow — one of whom has never even been to Ames. They’re the first graduates of the distance learning program offered through the I-S-U Outreach Center at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.Professor Ed Jones runs I-S-U’s engineering distance education program. He says these three students have taken two full years of coursework over the Iowa Communications Network, a fibber-optics link between classrooms in Ames and Cedar Rapids — and many other cities.Jones says these three engineering students have been able to interact in real time with professors and other students, and sent in homework using e-mail and fax machines. All three took two years of courses at Kirkwood before becoming I-S-U students.The three graduates are: Al Reiter of Cascade, Mike Brice of Cedar Rapids and Tim Gorton of Marion. Reiter says he’ll attend tomorrow’s graduation ceremony in Ames as he’d like to see the campus in person.