Verizon Business Sponsors '2008 Global Marathon For, By and About Women in Engineering'

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (Map) - BASKING RIDGE, N.J., March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Business is once again joining with the National Engineers Week Foundation to present the 2008 Global Marathon For, By and About Women in Engineering, which educates and informs women worldwide about opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

As honorary chairperson for the event, Judy Spitz, Verizon Business senior vice president and chief information officer, will kick off the 2008 Global Marathon from the Verizon Corporate Center in Basking Ridge, N.J., March 26 at 12 p.m. Eastern time. The event will end the next day at 12 p.m. Eastern time with Spitz, joined by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway(R) Personal Transporter, iBOT(R) Mobility System and other medical technology devices and founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).

The event, now in its fourth year, will be webcast in its entirety for the first time. (Some sessions also will be available via telephone.)

"Young women today have an array of choices when it comes to careers, but because of myths, misinformation and inexperience, many of them aren't considering technical fields," said Spitz. "The 2008 Global Marathon is an effective and easy way to expose young women to the broad range of opportunities and careers open to them."

Joining Spitz for a panel discussion during the opening ceremonies will be Virginia Ruesterholz, president of Verizon Telecom, and Jeannie Diefenderfer, vice president of global network operations for Verizon Business, as well as women executives from ITT Corp., Avis Corp., Texas Instruments and IBM.

Following the panel, the online sessions will begin with Verizon Business executives sharing career and lifestyle information, increasing awareness of educational and career opportunities for women, and dispelling myths about women in technical fields.

After the Global Marathon's start in North America, the event will "follow the sun" through five regions, each with a corporate sponsor responsible for developing programming and promoting the event in its region:

    North America: Verizon Business
    Mexico/Latin America: DuPont
    China: Chinese Institute of Engineers
    India: Motorola
    Africa/Middle East: IBM
    Europe: British Petroleum

Speakers from a variety of technology backgrounds will discuss in 30- or 60-minute increments a number of interesting topics, all providing a female's view of science and technology. The complete schedule of speakers and how to access their presentations can be viewed at www.eweek.org.

Verizon Business will provide the underlying technology for the portions hosted in North America, Europe and parts of South Africa via the company's IP-based global network, enabling participants from around the world to access the webcasts and net conferences.

To help reach as many participants as possible, the Verizon Business IT Diversity Council will promote the Global Marathon in the council's local areas. These Verizon Business employees, based around the world, are committed to educating and promoting a corporate culture of diversity and inclusion.

In conjunction with the Global Marathon, Verizon Business also will host at its headquarters in the Basking Ridge Corporate Center a Technology Fair for middle school, high school and college students. Interactive displays and demonstrations will be available for the students on March 26 from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time

About Verizon Business

Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), is a leading provider of advanced communications and information technology (IT) solutions to large business and government customers worldwide. Combining unsurpassed global network reach with advanced communications, security and other professional service capabilities, Verizon Business delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world. For more information, visit www.verizonbusiness.com.

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