SDSU
and QUALCOMM Partner to Enhance Educational Achievement Through New
Institute for Innovation and Educational Success
University Receives Record $14.5 Million
Gift from QUALCOMM
CONTACT: Patty Goodwin
QUALCOMM Incorporated
Phone: (858) 651-4127
publicrelations@qualcomm.com
Jason Foster
SDSU Marketing & Communications
Phone (619) 594-2585
foster@mail.sdsu.edu
SAN DIEGO, Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - San Diego
State University and QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM) today
announced they will form the QUALCOMM Institute for Innovation and
Educational Success at San Diego State University (SDSU). The institute
will be established through a gift of $14.5 million from QUALCOMM
over the next four years, the largest corporate gift in the university’s
history.
The mission of the QUALCOMM Institute for Innovation
and Educational Success is to identify and address major issues
critical to the long-term prosperity of the San Diego region. The
QUALCOMM Institute will support professional development for teachers,
curriculum improvement and institutional transformation in schools
throughout San Diego and other parts of the country. The goal is
to improve the level of instruction across the educational continuum
– supporting teachers and students at K-12 schools, universities
and beyond.
“QUALCOMM and SDSU are deeply committed
to improving our community. This partnership represents a true collaboration,
combining our strengths and resources to make a sustainable difference
in our region’s educational system,” said Dr. Irwin
Mark Jacobs, chairman and CEO of QUALCOMM. “We see education
as the most powerful tool to enable success for our community, both
socially and economically. Partnering with SDSU, a university with
a reputation for community development and educational excellence,
will ensure that these educational initiatives will have a far-reaching
effect throughout San Diego County.”
QUALCOMM’s gift will enable the new institute
to immediately focus on four key initiatives. The first three aim
at developing a more tech-savvy regional workforce via enhanced
math and technical education. The fourth initiative will help establish
a new center focused on partnering with challenged urban school
districts around the nation to improve student performance. The
QUALCOMM Institute will pursue additional initiatives when other
important priorities are identified and funded.
The institute’s current initiatives are:
• $5.5 million to expand the already successful
Improving Student Achievement in Mathematics (ISAM) program administered
by SDSU’s College of Education. ISAM is designed to improve
public school mathematics instruction by enhancing teachers’
subject knowledge and instructional effectiveness.
• $1.4 million to expand SDSU’s involvement
in Project Lead The Way. SDSU’s College of Engineering runs
the only Project Lead The Way program in California. Project Lead
The Way trains middle school and high school teachers to implement
problem-based, pre-engineering coursework into their classes and
aims to increase students’ interest in pursuing engineering
majors in college.
• $2.6 million to accelerate SDSU’s
recently launched Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)
program across the university’s entire curriculum. The goal
of the interdisciplinary ICT program is to eventually equip all
SDSU graduates with enhanced skills in applying advanced information
technology and working in collaborative decision-making environments.
• $2.4 million to help launch the National
Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST) at SDSU’s College
of Education. The NCUST will work to enable public schools to tackle
the breadth of issues present in urban classrooms and communities.
The Center will serve as a catalyst to support transformation in
urban schools across the nation.
“QUALCOMM wanted to
work together to find a way to make a distinct and widespread contribution
to improving our region’s overall quality of life. Soon it
became clear that education was the first critical issue we should
address,” said SDSU President Stephen L. Weber. “Establishing
this institute is yet another example of QUALCOMM’s leadership
on issues of importance to San Diego.”
Enhancing math and science
education has grown into a red-hot national issue in recent years
as several prominent international studies have shown American students,
especially in the higher grades, falling farther and farther behind
their contemporaries abroad in math and science skills. Reversing
the trend, said Weber, requires comprehensive and sustained approaches
to implementing education reform and those are the kinds of programs
the QUALCOMM Institute seeks to support.
“This will be the
first of many initiatives to help our region,” added Weber.
“The QUALCOMM Institute will develop a new strategic plan
for education in San Diego, one that broadens the traditional scope
of literacy to include a much higher level of mathematical and technical
skills. These skill sets are essential for San Diego to thrive and
prosper, because virtually all professional fields, from business
to health care to education, are becoming more dependent on mathematics
and technology.”
In addition, QUALCOMM is
contributing $2.6 million to the President’s Leadership Fund
at SDSU, enabling it to invest in other programs on campus that
complement the goals of the new institute.
QUALCOMM, which has already
contributed more than $10 million to SDSU since the early 1990s
to support a range of programs, initiated the idea of establishing
a more ambitious partnership with SDSU to address regional needs.
As part of this partnership,
SDSU has agreed to raise an additional $15.1 million in private
support for the four key initiatives. Part of that effort will include
hiring the university’s first-ever “Executive-in-Residence”
who, as part of his or her duties, will raise awareness of the Institute’s
mission and help launch a Corporate Partners Program.
QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com)
is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless
communications products and services based on the Company’s
Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital technology. Headquartered
in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index
and is a 2003 FORTUNE 500® company traded on The Nasdaq Stock
Market® under the ticker symbol QCOM.
San Diego State University
is the oldest and largest institution of higher education in the
San Diego region. Founded in 1897, SDSU offers bachelor’s
degrees in 79 areas, master’s degrees in 67 and doctorates
in 14. SDSU’s more than 33,000 students participate in academic
curricula distinguished by direct contact with faculty and an increasing
international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For
more information log on to www.sdsu.edu.
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Editor’s
Note: A fact sheet with more information on the first four initiatives
of the QUALCOMM Institute for Innovation and Educational Success
is available by contacting SDSU’s Marketing & Communications
Department at (619) 594-5204 or foster@mail.sdsu.edu.
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