Distance education has been one of the hottest and most controversial topics in higher education circles for approximately the past 10 years. It has been viewed at once as the panacea for educating the world and that which, through its inherent depersonalization of the academic process, will destroy higher education "as we know it." This article addresses the development and implementation of distance education courses and programs within the context of an average-sized, traditional academic department in a public university in the southern United States. This case study: (1) briefly describes the department; (2) notes why this department incorporated distance education as a part of its instructional delivery modes; (3) explains the importance of the department chair in fostering and supporting innovation (that is, change); and (4) describes what this department went through to get where they are now and why the "process" of change is important. (Contains 7 endnotes.)