I am very pleased that the Contel Corporation has selected the DeKalb-Sycamore area for its new Midwest headquarters.

Contel of Illinois is an outstanding corporate citizen. Many Contel employees are active participants in community programs, and the company has been very generous to a number of educational and charitable programs, including NIU. Our region will be well served by an expanded presence.

I was especially pleased to learn that a majority of the new employment will be in the professional and engineering areas. NIU can play a major role in providing educational services to these employees.

We are also eager to expand our partnership with Contel in other areas, such as telecommunications research and engineering. This is a very exciting opportunity for our region and for NIU.

John E. La Tourette

President

Northern Illinois University