The Idaho State Journal and Idaho State University are jointly sponsoring a community forum titled “Education and the Economy: Preparing Idaho’s work force for the future.”

    The forum is free and open to the public and will be held at

7 p.m. Thursday at the ISU Student Union.

    The event will feature a panel of experts on education and the economy including State Superintendent of Public Education Tom Luna, Lieutenant Governor Brad Little, Bannock Development Executive Director John Regetz, former Pocatello Mayor and current Bingham County Economic Development consultant Roger Chase, and Jay Engstrom, deputy director of the Idaho Department of Labor. The panelists will each be given the opportunity to address the audience, and audience members will be able to ask them written questions.

    Journal Editor Ian H. Fennell and Regional Economist Dan Cravens of the Idaho Department of Labor will moderate the forum. Cravens will start off the forum by outlining the challenges facing Eastern Idaho’s work force.

    Cravens said the forum is “important and timely.”

    He added, “One’s ability to compete in the work force and our area’s ability to compete economically for companies which offer high-wage jobs are tied to the education and training in our workforce as a whole. One of the topics I hope to address is how technology can help our students, in a cost effective manner, have greater access to learning opportunities such as advanced coursework related to science and technology.”

    Fennell said a Journal/ISU forum held previously this year on the region’s economy served as inspiration to hold Thursday’s event.

    “It became pretty clear at the previous forum that the education level of our work force directly impacts our economic possibilities here in Eastern Idaho,” Fennell said. “If we don’t do something to create a better educated work force here, our economy is never going to improve and future generations of Eastern Idahoans won’t have much hope of attaining even the same level of prosperity as their parents.”