ELON, N.C. – MCNC, the private not-for-profit operator of the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), will host this year’s annual NCREN Community Day celebration on Thursday and Friday at Elon University.

North Carolina continues to set a national benchmark by leveraging NCREN to provide high-performance broadband connectivity in the public sector. Each year, MCNC recognizes and celebrates the progress and achievements from all over the state with this event.

This year’s “Think Big” theme will highlight the cutting-edge work of network constituents while also looking forward into the future of big data and broadband, health care, K-20 education, video, cloud computing, fiber expansion, shared services, and the role broadband plays in economic development and job creation.

Almost 300 top government, education, and technology industry leaders in North Carolina and throughout the country are expected to attend, and this is the first time the event has been held outside of the Triangle.

The complete NCREN Community Day 2012 Agenda is available online. Some of the special guests and keynote presenters currently include:

• N.C. Senator Fletcher Hartsell, Jr.

• N.C. Representative Linda Johnson

• Chris Fulkerson, Assistant Vice President for Technology and CIO at Elon University

• Janna Anderson, Director of the Imagining the Internet Center and Associate Professor at Elon University

• Meg Lowman, Director of the Nature Research Center at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

• Michelle Trautwein, Associate Director at Biodiversity Laboratory

• Fred Brooks, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at UNC Chapel Hill

• Jonathan Vester, Chief Information Officer at Nash Community College

• Paul Jones, Director of ibiblio.org and Clinical Associate Professor at UNC Chapel Hill

• Alan Blatecky, Director of the Office of Cyberinfrastructure at the National Science Foundation

• Steve North, Family Physician and Adolescent Medicine Specialist at Bakersville Community Medical Clinic

MCNC plans to provide an update on the status of the second phase of the $144 million Golden LEAF Rural Broadband Initiative (GLRBI) currently underway throughout North Carolina. Also, they will announce the winners of this year’s Community Choice award as well as additional NCREN Community awards.

This year’s event sponsors include Cisco Systems, DukeNet Communications, Presidio, mediasite by Sonicfoundry, K&L Gates, Time Warner Cable Business Class, CommScope, ePlus, Wells Fargo Insurance, WRAL Tech Wire, and Elon University.

With the exception of Thursday’s reception, all activities will be held in the Moseley Campus Center at Elon.