RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 7, 2007 – Lenovo today announced its sponsorship of the “Global Marathon For, By and About Women in Engineering,” a live webcast event that will be broadcast to a worldwide audience on Thursday, March 22. Lenovo also pledged its multi-year support for the National Engineers Week Foundation and the Global Marathon. This third annual Global Marathon will provide a global audience of K-12 and college students, teachers, counselors, parents and professional women engineers access to top women engineers in leading institutions and industries around the world.
Lenovo will kick off the live Global Marathon from its executive headquarters near Raleigh, North Carolina at noon EST and will feature Fran O’Sullivan, senior vice president of the Lenovo Product Group, and Dr. Sally Ride, former astronaut and the first American woman in space. Attendees can visit www.eweek.org/ for more information on how to view the Global Marathon webcast.
As head of Lenovo’s Product Group, O’Sullivan demonstrates the value of women in the engineering field. She has played a major role in two milestones in technology history, working with NASA on the launch of the first Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981 as well as contributing to the growth of the PC industry from its early days. At the Global Marathon, she will continue to encourage younger generations to actively participate in engineering academia. In the U.S., more than 90 percent of high school girls do not currently consider engineering as a career option. 1
“Lenovo is focused on cultivating a diverse and talented pipeline of engineers. By reaching students early, we can help them overcome the subtle social obstacles that often turn school-age girls away from technical professions,”” said O’Sullivan. “This is our way of inspiring the next generation of women engineers by exposing them to a wide showcase of role models who have built distinguished careers in technical fields.”
O’Sullivan and Dr. Ride will also lead a Q&A session at Lenovo with students from North Carolina schools during the live Global Marathon webcast.
Lenovo’s global engineering team will also participate in the Global Marathon, giving presentations from countries including China and Japan. Over the course of 24 hours, various leaders from the engineering field around the world will hold conversations through webcasts, Internet chats and conference calls in an effort to encourage girls to pursue engineering careers.
As a supporter of the Global Marathon, Verizon Business will host the 24-hour event via its global information network. For an updated schedule of speakers and event information, visit www.eweek.org .
About Lenovo Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is dedicated to building the world’s best engineered personal computers. Lenovo’s business model is built on innovation, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction as well as a focus on investment in emerging markets. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services worldwide. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information, see www.lenovo.com/us/en .
1 Extraordinary Women Engineers Project (EWEP), April 2005.
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