July 24, 2015

NetApp recognized at White House for work with STEMpact2020, STEM Mentoring in Wichita

A citywide STEM mentoring initiative led by Wichita State University's College of Engineering was back at the White House on Friday to witness founding partner NetApp receive a national STEM Mentoring Award for its work in Wichita. The award was given by US2020, a national organization committed to engaging one million professionals from the fields of science, technology, engineering and math in mentoring America's youth.

In May 2014, Wichita was one of seven cities recognized at the White House as a winner of the US2020 City Competition for its success in building a community collaboration around STEM mentoring. The Wichita effort -- a coalition of more than 30 partners from industry, government, schools and youth-serving nonprofits, is operated out of the College of Engineering under the name of STEMpact2020.

US2020 presented NetApp, a FORTUNE 500 company, with an Excellence in Corporate Culture Award for their volunteer efforts in Wichita. Leading organizations worldwide count on NetApp for software, systems and services to manage and store their data.

Honoring the company's commitment to benefiting the communities in which employees live and work, NetApp employees in Wichita provided yearlong mentorship for high school seniors and led computer programming and software engineering clubs for the Girl Scouts of Kansas Heartland.

"NetApp has been a champion amongst our partners leading the way for a culture shift around STEM mentoring and volunteerism amongst our partners in the Wichita area," said Alex Petersen, STEMpact2020 project manager. "Their willingness to move beyond 'allowing' their workforce to volunteer to encouraging them to get involved through employee incentives such as paid time for volunteering has made them very impactful in our community."

Accepting on behalf of NetApp was Shelia OConnor, a WSU alumna who has both a bachelor's in electrical engineering and a doctorate in industrial engineering from the WSU College of Engineering.

For the inaugural STEM Mentoring Awards, US2020 received submissions from more than 80 organizations in 30 cities representing 13 states across the country.

"We were thrilled and humbled by the number and quality of responses received," said Nick Hutchinson, executive director of US2020.