The Instructional Technology Center in Mandeville was renamed in honor of the late Gov. David Treen Thursday.

Members of the Treen family attended the special ceremony at the now David C. Treen Instructional Technology Center, as well as many visitors, school system administrators, supervisors and children from Woodlake Elementary School.

Treen, who was governor of Louisiana between 1980-84 and a resident of the Mandeville area for many years, died last October. The St. Tammany School Board voted in November to honor him for his service to the state and community and his many contributions to public education. He was instrumental in establishing the state’s Professional Improvement Program for teachers, which gave teachers incentives to take part in professional development activities.

He also helped establish the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches and served as a Congressman between 1973 and 1980.

After leaving the governor’s office, Treen was a frequent visitor to St. Tammany schools and worked with other governors to maintain educational funding in the state. The board acknowledged that the entire Northshore community benefited from Treen’s personal involvement over the years and he left a legacy of public service locally as well as across the state.

The 24,000-square-foot office and instructional building houses approximately 20 full-time employees.

The facility contains four computer training labs, a professional development center, a distance learning classroom (with satellite, Internet, cable TV, and compressed video conferencing), a cable television station, a conference center, and administrative offices and workspaces. Each year, the ITC hosts more than 450 educational and professional development workshops for more than 15,000 students, teachers, administrators and school staff members. 

The facility is one of the first of four such centers established in the state in December 1998. The tech center serves as an extension of the Division of Leadership and Technology and provides technology-training services to educators in 11 surrounding parishes as well as three city school districts.

The site was the original location of Mandeville High School, and today’s auditorium was the gymnasium in the early days. The current building was constructed in 1986 as an elementary school and kindergarten center. It was renovated in 2001 to its current configuration as the Instructional Technology Center.