Closing Remarks, AWC Top Michigan Women in Computing Gala, 2003
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Hi Everyone, I'm Anne Murphy, the AWC Vice President Gala. There are many exciting things about this event, not the least of which is that this marks the beginning of a program that the Ann Arbor AWC is committed to running each year. We hope you will join us in that commitment. The leadership of our top women, aided by the scholarship that we are creating today, will inspire and enable the next generation of Michigan women in computing. I for one am looking forward to seeing what their accomplishments will be, 25 years from now. We felt very lucky to have had such an excellent group of women nominated for the Top Michigan Women in Computing Award for 2003. It is not too early to start thinking about the women you would like to see on stage here next year. We were also delighted by how many people called us up to say “I have worked with her”, “I want to support her,” or “we want to be part of this event.” We hope you have enjoyed the end result as much as we have, and I have all of your phone numbers and will be calling you next year. Seriously though, supporting women in computing and recognizing their achievements in the field is an ongoing process. This event has been possible due to the time and money generously offered by our sponsors and by our volunteers and the same will be true every year. To paraphrase Robert Woodruff, "There is no limit to what a woman can do or how far she can go if she doesn't mind who gets the credit." The women we honor tonight and in the coming years are not excelling in this field by focusing on who gets the credit. They display leadership through their vision of what needs to be done and what is the best way to do it, and their dedication to seeing that through to fruition. Our AWC Gala volunteers have been the same way. And yet tonight we are here to give credit where credit is due, and so we want to express our sincere appreciation to all the volunteers who helped make this event happen. Our committee members are listed in the program and those that are helping here tonight have a green ribbon on their name badge. Thank you all, very, very much. At this time we would like to acknowledge the exceptional contribution of a woman who has seen this event through from concept to implementation. She has stepped forward to be a leader in “Getting it done” and we have appreciated all her work, especially her unfailing commitment to getting us in and out of every meeting in exactly one hour. Barbara and I are pleased to present a small token of the AWC’s appreciation to the gala’s Executive Producer, Lisa Luczek. Lisa, please take a bow. Everyone here tonight has helped to establish a wonderful scholarship to help women pursue careers in computing technology, to celebrate the 25th birthday of the Association for Women in Computing, and to acknowledge and celebrate the amazing achievements of the 2003 Top Michigan Women in Computing. (whew, aren’t you tired?) This is the end of our formal program, but we invite you to stay and congratulate the Top Michigan Women Award winners personally. The bar will be here until 10:30. Thank you all for coming, and for your continued support of Women in Computing.
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