Senior U.S. Education Official to Meet with Salt Lake College Students during 2012 Cross-Country Back-to-School Bus Tour Promoting Education

On Friday, Sept. 14, David Bergeron, acting assistant secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education, will conclude three days of activities for Education Drives America – the Education Department’s 2012 cross-country, back-to-school bus tour – with a visit to two Salt Lake community college campuses to hear from students and offer tips on college access and completion.

Bergeron will meet with military veterans at Salt Lake Community College’s Westpointe Center to learn first-hand about their needs and concerns in terms of entering and completing postsecondary education. Later, Bergeron will travel to the school’s Taylorsville Redwood campus where he will hold a roundtable discussion for students on college access and completion.

Since Wednesday, more than a half-dozen senior Education Department officials have been holding events in Salt Lake as part of the Education Drives America bus tour. These events have spotlighted classroom success, college affordability and the link between education and jobs.

U.S. Under Secretary Martha Kanter was among the officials who visited Salt Lake City earlier this week, with a bus tour stop at Glendale Middle School, which showcased the school’s turnaround efforts with funds from the Education Department’s School Improvement Grants (SIG) program.

The bus tour began this week in Silicon Valley and continues across America, concluding in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 21. For updates from the road, follow the tour on Twitter using the hashtag #edtour12, or see the department’s bus tour blog. To receive media advisories, press releases, notifications about postings to the blog, and other special updates during the tour, subscribe to the department’s Education Drives America e-mail updates by clicking here.