Kuali Days 2010 Draws Record Attendance

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 24, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kuali community gathered in San Diego earlier this month for Kuali's ninth conference, Kuali Days 2010: From Theory to Practice, which included three packed days of community-driven presentations, workshops, showcases, receptions and social events. This was Kuali's largest event to date, drawing a record number -- 690 attendees from 115 organizations around the world.

Kuali Days 2010 was appropriately themed From Theory to Practice, and the recent releases of Kuali Coeus 3.0 and Kuali Rice 1.1 illustrated that effective practice. Likewise, Kuali People Management for the Enterprise was announced as the newest member-led project of the Kuali Foundation. The growth in new Kuali projects, the succession of successful releases, and the explosion of Kuali implementations demonstrate that the community source software development model is no longer a theory for the enterprise, but rather a real path to tangible success for colleges and universities.

Kuali Days 2010 speakers included Dr. Patrick Burns from Colorado State University (CSU), who illustrated CSU's real experience implementing the Kuali Financial System at an amazingly low cost with the help of the Kuali "Community with a capital C." Dr. Brad Wheeler from Indiana University highlighted how far Kuali has come and provided vision for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Dr. Paul N. Courant, University of Michigan, used his keynote to illustrate how the work of the Kuali community serves the larger context of openness in higher education and its impact on society.

"I was very impressed by the size and zeal of the community," said Philip Wright from Brock University, a new Kuali Foundation member from Ontario, Canada whose technical and functional teams were attending Kuali Days for the first time. "We got a lot of invaluable information, made strong connections in the community, and are going back home very excited to continue down the Kuali path."

This year, for the first time, Kuali used a Call for Proposals process to solicit presentations from the community. "The community came out in amazing force, submitting many more proposals than our planning committee expected," said Kymber Horn from the University of Arizona, who served as Chair of the Kuali Days Conference Committee for Kuali Days 2010. "We were absolutely thrilled, and the enthusiasm we saw in the Call for Proposals process translated into a conference with very high energy!"

The Chair for Kuali Days 2011, which will be in Indianapolis, Indiana in November 2011, is Emily Deere from the University of California San Diego.

Kuali is a growing community of universities, colleges, businesses, and other organizations that have partnered to build and sustain community source software for higher education, by higher education. The software of Kuali projects is freely available under the Educational Community License to anyone for any use or modification. More information on Kuali is found at http://www.kuali.org.

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SOURCE Kuali Foundation