IBM 1997 Annual Report Download - page 33

g
sUSAN CRAYNE IS AN
IBM RESEARCH SCIENTIST WITH A SINGULAR
PASSION FOR THE FUTURE.It starts small.
At home. With the little 4-year-old wonder you see
here — Sara Crayne-Dedrick.
While Susan’s passion starts with something
very personal and private, it encompasses the entire
world of children. Susan and more than a dozen
fellow IBM researchers develop technologies as part
of an IBM grant program called Reinventing Educa-
tion. The $35 million initiative is dedicated
to helping children reach world-class academic
standards through innovative technology solutions.
IBM’s work in education is one emblem of a
powerful intangible that attracts good people to our
company — a sense of social responsibility, the desire
to work for a company with the resources and the
will to make the world a better place.
In a region of South Africa labeled an “ educa-
tional disaster area” in 1996 by Deputy President
Thabo Mbeki, IBM Reinventing Education grants
helped equip schools and train teachers on how tech-
nology can help them develop innovative curricula.
So far, 237 teachers have trained there, improving
educational opportunities for some 6,300 students.
Nine hundred IBM PCs are in use in the schools —
and after hours they’re available for adult education
and to small business owners. We’ve launched simi-
lar Reinventing Education initiatives in Brazil and
will start others like it in Ireland, India and Vietnam.
In 1997, IBM gave more than $100 million
to programs for people in need, including corporate
contributions and donations from the IBM Interna-
tional Foundation. Individual employees
gave another $30 million in matching grants
and donations to nonprofit organizations and
educational institutions in the communities where
we work and raise our families. Each year IBM
provides several million dollars’ worth of new
technology to more than 1,600 U.S. nonprofit health
and human services organizations through the Unit-
ed Way’s network of agencies. We also gave
of ourselves. IBM employees volunteered nearly
4million hours of service.
IBM grants are allowing millions of people to
enjoy the treasures of the State Hermitage Museum
in St. Petersburg and the Vatican Library, where
priceless but perishable collections are being preserved
through the power of information technology.
In Peru, a partnership with the Pontifical Catholic
University developed a computer-aided reconstruction
system to restore ancient Moche figures on the
ceiling of an aging temple.
We’re a company committed to a culture of
inclusion, a workforce as diverse as the cultures,
perspectives and human characteristics in the more
than 160 countries where we do business.
Our longstanding commitment to workforce
diversity was recognized recently in a ceremony at
the U.S. White House, when IBM received the first
annual Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership.
Of course, IBM exists to deliver solid financial
results, and healthy returns to our investors. But it’s
not all we do, or all we are. In a world too frequently
beset by intolerance, fear, hunger and illiteracy, some
of us are in a position to help. We count ourselves
among the fortunate — not only able to help, but
having the responsibility and the desire to help.
corporate
initiatives
left: Sara Crayne-Dedrick daughter of IBM researcher Susan Crayne 31