An Iowa businessman who is now working in the U-S Department of Education joined the head of NASA as they toured facilities at Iowa State University Tuesday. David Barker served on the Iowa Board of Regents for six years before being appointed as the Assistant U-S Secretary for Postsecondary Education. Barker says education in general and STEM education in particular is important for the research going on at I-S-U and the things NASA is doing.
He says the Secretary of the Department of Education gave a call to action to universities around the country last month to refocus on the importance of those schools.
Barker says that covers several areas and they are focused on putting students first.
Barker says they want to make sure that higher education programs actually deliver value for all students.
Barker says they are also working on promoting research integrity to make sure that the research that is done in higher education is of the highest quality and that there’s no cheating in research, which he says we’ve seen too much of that done in research. And he says the Department is trying to prioritize American interests.
