AT&T Education Center Announcement
June 12, 2007
Good morning and welcome to the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. We are pleased that all of you could join us on this special occasion. Today we are here to recognize AT&T's $25 million commitment to UT and to announce that our new conference center under construction will now be officially named the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.
I would like to thank several people who have supported this effort and played key roles in its success:
- Jim Cicconi, AT&T's senior executive vice president of External and Legislative Affairs.
- Jim Epperson, president of AT&T Texas.
- There are also several executives from AT&T who are in the audience:
- Brooks McCorcle -- senior vice president - Consumer Markets, AT&T Southwest
- Jim Shelgren -- Regional vice president, AT&T
- Mikal Harn -- vice president and general manager, South Texas Markets
- Eric Fernandez -- executive director of Sponsorship and Events
- Here to represent the University of Texas System is James Huffines, chairman of the UT System Board of Regents.
- And our special guest on the platform is Charline McCombs, who is with us to represent the Red McCombs family. Red and Charline were instrumental in making this partnership work, and we are most grateful to them for their leadership and continuing support of the University and the McCombs School of Business. Thank you for being here, Charline. Please convey our gratitude to Red. The McCombs family is once again involved in a major successful endeavor on our campus.
- We are also pleased that Representative Eddie Rodriguez and Representative Valinda Bolton could join us today. They are in the audience.
- As well as Austin City Council members Brewster McCracken and Mike Martinez.
- Thank you all for joining us today!
AT&T's generous commitment of $25 million creates an invaluable partnership with UT that helps to establish an executive education and conference center destined to become a new gateway to the University. The Center will bring professionals from the business world and many other sectors to campus to interact with our academic community. This is an exceptional opportunity for us to share the intellectual resources of the University with the world at large – and in turn, to work with, and learn from, internationally renowned leaders in their fields.
This Center will be an active gathering place for conferences, seminars, continuing education services, and executive education programs. Our plans call for the Center to provide educational opportunities for learners of all ages and intellectual interests. When it is completed in August 2008, the Center will rank among the premier executive education facilities in the nation.
From the outset of this project, Dean George Gau and the McCombs School of Business have played a prominent role in the conception and planning of the Center. We thank them for their leadership and vision. The Center will enable the McCombs School to provide the highest quality executive education, which will strengthen its national reputation and enhance its ability to recruit the best faculty and students, and offer lifelong learning opportunities for its alumni and others. The top business schools in the country have executive education conference centers that are integral to their success, and we have now joined their ranks.
As the official communications partner of the Center, AT&T will provide the latest technology to enrich the communications and learning experience of our guests and conference participants. Under the terms of the 25-year partnership, AT&T will equip the Center with the most current innovations in voice, broadband, wireless, and television services. We will provide visitors and guests with complimentary AT&T wi-fi and AT&T television in individual guest rooms, the lobby, educational spaces, and other public areas. Each guest room and conference room will be equipped with universal cell phone and PDA charging stations. AT&T will also equip a business center to provide state-of-the-art technology and communication services.
But this partnership between UT and AT&T will provide more than physical space and high technology. The new AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center will become a place where great thinkers and innovators come together in a collegial atmosphere to discuss important issues, explore ideas, and shape the future.
Thank you all for being a part of this special moment in the history of our university.
Before we move on to our distinguished speakers this morning, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce the president of the management firm that will operate this great facility – Scott Davis of Flik International.
And now it is my honor to introduce Jim Cicconi, the senior executive vice president of External and Legislative Affairs at AT&T and a dual degree holder from UT – Jim has a bachelor's degree in Government and a law degree from the School of Law. Please welcome Jim Cicconi.
Thank you very much, Jim. And now it is my pleasure to introduce James Huffines, chairman of the UT System Board of Regents.
Thank you, everyone. I look forward to seeing you all again in about 15 months, when we open the doors to the new AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. My thanks again to Charline McCombs, Chairman James Huffines, Jim Cicconi, Jim Epperson, and our other friends from AT&T for joining us today and making this possible.
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