A Salute To Ken Olsen

WENHAM, MA — Gordon College will host a “Salute to Ken Olsen” on Saturday, June 17, 2006. The college, Digital Equipment Corporation alumni, technology leaders, friends and family of Ken Olsen will gather for a special tribute in the A. J. Gordon Memorial Chapel located at 255 Grapevine Road.

Olsen, known around the world as founder and former CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and one of the 20th century’s leading pioneers in computer science, joined the Gordon College Board of Trustees in 1961 and is now making possible the building of a new science center at Gordon College. The 80,000 sq. ft. science and technology center will be named the Ken Olsen Science Center.

Olsen, a graduate of MIT, and the DEC organization is accredited for key electronic patents like a saturable switch, a diode transformer gate circuit, magnetic core memory, and the line printer buffer—cornerstones of much of the hardware innovation used in technology today. Under Olsen’s leadership DEC became the second largest computer company in the world and is credited with the invention of the minicomputer. Olsen led DEC as president and CEO through the design, manufacture and service of multiple generations of computer software and hardware products, with peak employment of over 110,000 employees in 97 countries around the globe. The culture Ken created at DEC was one of employee recognition and empowerment, innovation, customer focus, total quality management, employee and company loyalty, frugality, family and work balance, and integrity.

“Even though I have been an entrepreneur, I have always been a scientist first and foremost,” Olsen says. “Science is more than a study of molecules and calculations; it is the love of knowledge and the continued search for truth. The study of the sciences promotes humility, leaving us with a clear sense that we will never understand all there is to know. At the same time, science provides a defense for truth, authenticates Christianity and stems from the nature of God.”

The Salute to Ken Olsen event is an opportunity for Gordon to thank Olsen for his contributions to the college, for former DEC employees to thank Olsen for his leadership and for technology leaders to thank Olsen for his innovations.

Tickets for the Salute to Ken Olsen are complimentary; however, registration is required. For information or to register, visit http://www.gordon.edu/olsenevent .

Gordon College is a nationally ranked four-year, nondenominational Christian liberal arts college on Boston’s North Shore. The college offers 36 majors in the liberal arts and sciences. It also offers graduate programs in education and music education. In recent years, Gordon has won national recognition for its scholastic excellence, the high caliber of its faculty and its role in character building. For more information on this Christian college, visit http://www.gordon.edu .