Published: June 17, 2001

Dale Hatfield, director of the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has been appointed a member of the Technological Advisory Council to the Federal Communications Commission.

The federal advisory committee, which is comprised of 33 leading technologists, helps provide technological insights that the FCC needs to stay abreast of innovations in communications and related industries.

Hatfield, who was the chief of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology before retiring in December 2000, continues to play a leading role in federal communications issues, such as the AOL-Time Warner merger which he is monitoring for the FCC.

Hatfield became director of CU-Boulder's Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program in January 2001. He has taught telecommunications policy on an adjunct basis at CU-Boulder since 1982, bringing firsthand knowledge of telecommunications policy developments to hundreds of students.

Hatfield formerly served as deputy assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information, as well as deputy administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration before founding the Boulder-based telecommunications consulting firm Hatfield Associates in 1982.

The Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program is a multidisciplinary graduate program offering education in engineering, business, law, political science, communication and the economics of telecommunications.

Hatfield holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Case Institute of Technology and a master's degree in industrial management from Purdue University.