An ISU professor in the Center for Technology Learning and Teaching took over an international leadership position this month.

Niki Davis, who has been at Iowa State since January 2000, became president of the Society for Information Technology in Teacher Education on March 8. Davis was awarded the position during the SITE 2001 Conference in Orlando, Florida. She will serve a three-year term.

Davis has a strong commitment to technology in education. For example, the morning of her keynote address, Davis was taking digital photographs from her hotel window of a nearby shuttle launch.

“I used the pictures in my keynote presentation later that day to demonstrate the future of SITE `taking off,'” she said.

The goals of SITE are to “promote the research, scholarship, collaboration, exchange and support among its membership and to actively foster the development of new national organizations where need emerges,” according to the SITE Web site, www.aace.org/conf/site.

Davis’ main goal for SITE in the next three years is supporting the use of technology and its role in education, she said.

As president, Davis said she wants to work with SITE members to create an online environment for committees to meet.

She also promotes shared leadership and the involvement of women and minorities.

Davis has a 12-year history with the organization. She gave her first keynote address 11 years ago. A native of England, she was the first international speaker to give a keynote address for SITE.

Ann Thompson, professor and chairwoman of curriculum and instruction, said Davis is a “wonderful choice” for the new president.

“The organization has seen fantastic growth in the past few years,” she said. “This was the ideal time and place for someone with leadership and structural organization like Niki Davis to come in.”

Thompson said Davis is a good leader, not only because she is interested in new ideas, but because she is willing to work hard to implement and see her ideas through. Thompson said she is impressed with Davis’ ability to collaborate leadership and get people involved.

“Niki worked very hard on involvement, even before becoming president,” she said. “She will broaden the base of leadership and put a national emphasis on the technological future of education.”

Davis has collaborated with ISU professors for several years, and she said, although it was difficult adjusting to a new environment, her move to Iowa State will benefit her as president.

“Iowa State is very advanced technologically,” she said. “It is one of the leading centers in the world.”

In addition to her duties as the new SITE president, Davis’ team teaches three classes this semester. She is also the co-director of the Center for Technology in Learning and Teaching.

SITE had 230 members 12 years ago, and Davis has since seen it grow to more than 1,500 members from 56 countries.

“I hope to see it grow even more in the next few years,” she said. “We need to spread the load as leaders and learn from each other.”