ATLANTA, GA -- IPST opens its new Industry Learning Center (ILC) on June 19th, just one week after the release of its new Problem-Solving Resources on the Member Channel.

The new Learning Center provides IPST member company employees with easy, low-cost access to nearly 200 Web-based professional development programs. These skill-building courses are available to all member company staff regardless of their responsibility, location, or time zone.

The ILC is ideally suited to supplement corporate staff-development programs, and the courses are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students have the ability to schedule convenient times for completing courses by using bookmarks between modules.

The initial courses are being offered in association with SkillSoft and E-Train and represent the skills most requested by IPST member companies and alumni. Although the initial ILC course offerings will focus on management, leadership, business, and communication skills, IPST plans to add a wide range of technical industry selections in the near future.

Many of the Center's courses provide both pre - and post - testing, some allowing students to skip skills they have already mastered. Electronic transcripts are recorded and will be dispatched to the student or their employer. Students achieving the required performance on selected courses can apply for undergraduate business degree credit, professional certification, or Continuing Education Units (CEU's).

Within the next few months, IPST will be adding over 100 new courses designed to directly benefit the employees and assist our members in expanding their operational skills.

The IPST Member Channel is a service to the employees of its member companies. It provides these industry professionals with access to leading expertise, some of the industry's most innovative research, current information, and the most relevant educational programs available. Anytime. Anywhere.

The Institute of Paper Science and Technology is an independent, fully accredited, graduate research school located on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. In a unique partnership with the paper industry, the Institute awards Master of Science and Ph.D. degrees. In addition, IPST provides the industry with innovative research, informational and technical services, and access to educational development programs.

SkillSoft is a provider of total e-learning solutions for Global 2000 companies, covering a broad variety of critical business skills (commonly called "soft skills"). All of SkillSoft's courses and support tools have been specifically designed to take advantage of the benefits offered by the Internet and the Web-based environments of our customers. This design enables users of SkillSoft's products to access the material they need, with the specificity or breadth that they require anytime and in any location that they may need it. Customers receive comprehensive learning and performance support solutions for their workforce. This comprises a library of over 280 courses (over 3,500 learning objects) encompassing a wide array of professional effectiveness skills, such as management, leadership, communication, project management and customer service, as well as business topics such as finance, marketing, sales, and strategy. Additional information about SkillSoft is available on the Internet at www.skillsoft.com.

For more information contact Bob Patterson at Bob.Patterson@ipst.gatech.edu.