Rich History, Dynamic Future

On March 11, 1967, the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunications Act was signed into law. This act authorized the trustees of the four state-supported universities—Ball State University, Indiana State University, Indiana University, and Purdue University—“to jointly arrange...for the use of a multipurpose, multimedia, closed circuit, statewide telecommunications system...to interconnect the...campuses of the universities, and centers of medical education and service.”

Subsequent legislatures added the trustees of Vincennes University, Indiana Vocational Technical College (now Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana), the Independent Colleges of Indiana, and the University of Southern Indiana to that list. The system that evolved from this legislation became known as IHETS.

To maximize the opportunity for statewide collaboration IHETS expanded to include representation from K-12 schools, public libraries, state government agencies, and public broadcasting in 1999.

In 2006, IHETS and its Board of Directors began an organizational transformation toward a more agile, member-driven collaborative institution. Since then, IHETS has transitioned to a self-funding model based on realignment of services to better respond to member needs, and finding greater operational efficiencies.

As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions on how IHETS can better serve you. 

info@ihets.org