President's Office

President Malcolm Gillis and Provost Eugene Levy invite you to a public lecture in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month.

"Ingredients for Success: Self Worth, Education, and Access to Technology"

Dr. Hector Ruiz
President and Chief Operating Officer of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Austin, Texas

Wednesday, November 8, 2000
4:00 p.m.
Duncan Hall, McMurtry Auditorium

A reception and a short traditional Mexican entertainment program will follow the lecture.

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment at Rice (HACER), the Association of Latin American Engineers and Scientists (ALAES), and the Mexican and Latin American Student Association at Rice (MESAR).

The Speaker - The Lecture

Last month's Business Week features a picture of Hector Ruiz with a caption saying "Why Intel Should Worry About Hector Ruiz". Our speaker's success story truly exemplifies the American dream. Hector Ruiz comes from very humble beginnings and attended high school in the South Texas town of Eagle Pass. He walked forty-five minutes each way to school and graduated Valedictorian of his Senior Class. With help from a missionary he was able to attend the University of Texas at Austin where he earned a bachelor's and master's degree in Electrical Engineering. He then attended Rice University earning a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. Ruiz built a very successful career at Motorola serving as President of the company's Semi-conductor Products Center and Executive Vice President of the Motorola Corporation. He was responsible for leading Motorola's world wide semi-conductor operations, which in 1998 had sales of 7.3 billion dollars. Last year Ruiz was hand picked to be Advanced Micro Devices Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer. Merrill Lynch and Company expects AMD's revenues to hit 5 billion dollars this year and Ruiz' task is to keep the boom times going.

As one of the nation's most respected and successful Mexican-Americans, Ruiz will tell his history and argue that in spite of various efforts across the country the Southwest's Hispanic community is no better off today than it was forty or fifty years ago. He believes that success today stems from three ingredients: self worth, quality education, and access to quality technology. The digital divide exists and is a strong detrimental factor. Ruiz will try to paint a global picture of why we have failed in improving the representation of Latinos in those endeavors critical to our country's success, and what we need to do to correct this. While Ruiz' comments will be focused on this Hispanic community the general principles he expounds are of critical value for a healthy nation. The lecture will be directed to a general audience, and there will be something for everyone.