Texas Tech University Center for Engineering Outreach
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December 12, 2006

Yahoo! Donates to Center for Engineering Outreach

Sunnyvale, Calif. — Yahoo! has announced that its co-founder, Jerry Yang, will donate $250,000 to the Texas Tech University Center for Engineering Outreach over the next two years.

Funds from Yahoo!’s gift will provide support for the center’s K-12 efforts to educate students about engineering, encourage students to pursue engineering careers, and prepare students to succeed in university engineering courses.

The gift from Yahoo!, made by Yang's private foundation, is in honor of Edward E. Whitacre Jr., chairman of the board and chief executive officer of AT&T. Whitacre, who graduated from Texas Tech University's College of Engineering in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering, began his career in Lubbock as a facility engineer for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company.

"Leaders like Ed Whitacre could be sitting behind Texas school desks today," Yang said. "We hope this gift will inspire him or her to embrace technology as a path to the future."

AT&T and Yahoo! are strategically allied to deliver co-branded broadband services to millions of customers nationwide. Their five-year alliance extends Yahoo! services for photos, music and video-on-demand to AT&T’s DSL broadband, wireless and Wi-Fi customers.

"This generous donation from Yahoo! will make a tremendous difference to our Center for Engineering Outreach and its ability to encourage many young people to pursue an engineering or computer science career," said College of Engineering Dean Pamela Eibeck.

Dedicated to inspiring and preparing tomorrow's engineers, the Center for Engineering Outreach works to inspire and prepare tomorrow’s engineers by helping K-12 students understand the importance of engineering in today’s world. The center focuses on K-12 teacher training, curriculum development, student mentoring and other engineering outreach activities.

"Yahoo!'s generosity is yet another example of the importance their company puts on K-12 education," commented Dean Fontenot, a director of the Center for Engineering Outreach. "We're excited about the opportunities this funding makes possible for the center as we reach out to K-12 students across the state of Texas."

In addition to providing the world’s largest online network of integrated services, Yahoo! and its employees are committed to making a difference in their communities. Yahoo!’s community relations program, Yahoo! for Good, connects people with causes to make a positive impact in the areas they live. Yahoo! for Good has a strong history of helping K-12 schools through programs like DonorsChoose, a Web-based philanthropy program that connects donors with schools to help provide learning materials for K-12 classrooms.

Founded in 1994 by David Filo and Jerry Yang, Yahoo! has evolved into a global brand that has changed the way people communicate with each other, conduct transactions and access, share and create information. The worldwide company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with regional offices in Dallas.

- Cory Chandler