Media contacts for the 2007 Global Marathon:
Kristy Fair: Krisfair@us.lenovo.com
Donald Lehr: dblehr@cs.com / 212-967-8200
Lynn Staggs: c-lynn.staggs@verizonbusiness.com The National Engineers Week Foundation, Lenovo, and Verizon Business are sponsoring the 2007 24-hour Global Marathon, For, By and About Women in Engineering, March 22 – 23, to highlight the increased opportunities in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics for women in many countries. The event coincides with Women’s History Month in the United States. The third annual marathon will provide insights, information, and inspiration with a variety of topics via Internet and telephone for everyone from pre-college young women, their parents and teachers, to college students and professionals. The 2007 event begins at noon Eastern time (US) Thursday, March 22nd and ends at noon Eastern time (US) Friday, March 23rd. Lenovo’s Senior Vice President, Frances O’Sullivan, and former astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space and now President and CEO of Sally Ride Science, kick off the 24 hours with a live Webcast from Lenovo’s US headquarters. The marathon concludes on March 23 with a live Webcast featuring Verizon Business’s Chief Information Officer Judy Spitz and Fred Briggs, Executive Vice President of Network Operations & Technology, with a joint discussion about the importance of technology in today’s society. In between, the schedule is packed with sessions ranging from academic advice from the winner of the National Society of Black Engineers Graduate Student of the Year Award, to a career guidance presentation in Spanish for students in Colombia and Mexico, to a discussion of the value of networking for women in engineering in the United Kingdom, and even a presentation of findings on attitudes and concerns of teen and ‘tween girls by Girls Inc. Engineers in many countries feel the need to improve diversity in engineering. For instance, Engineers of Australia has declared 2007 The Year of Women in Engineering. Engineers Week partners have promoted outreach to girls in the United States, Nigeria, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and other countries through Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, another Engineers Week program. In the United States, engineers have long promoted diversity outreach, but the global marathon takes on added urgency on the heels of startling findings from a survey of attitudes among high school girls, teachers and counselors, engineering students, and engineers. According to the Extraordinary Women Engineers Project study, led by a coalition of engineering associations and the WGBH Educational Foundation and released in April 2005, a staggering number of high school girls – more than 90 percent – do not even consider engineering as a career option. Further, jobs requiring engineering and scientific degrees continue to increase, but the number of students preparing for these careers remains static. Women and minorities are particularly underrepresented. Currently, only about ten percent of America’s engineers are women, despite the fact that women make up 46 percent of the nation’s workforce. Women comprise 55 percent of all college undergraduates, but only 20 percent in engineering. Even more troubling is that, despite the fact that less than 15 percent of U.S. high school students have the prerequisites to even pursue scientific or technical degrees in college, there is no lack of ability or preparation on the part of girls and young women. Previous studies have found that girls, on average, are just as or more likely as boys to have taken the high school science and math courses (biology, chemistry, physics, and advanced algebra) necessary to enter engineering school. For more information about the marathon, see “FAQ and Facts” and the schedule of events. |
