President of One Laptop Per Child to speak Feb. 10

University of Notre Dame graduate Charles Kane will return to campus to speak on his transition from working as a for-profit executive to pro-bono president and chief operating officer of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) at 5 p.m. Feb. 10 (Tuesday) in the Eck Visitors’ Center auditorium.

Titled “Technology and the Globalization of Education: The Story of One Laptop Per Child,” the talk is free and open to the public.

Developed out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2005, One Laptop Per Child manufactures and distributes laptop computers to children in poor and developing regions around the world. Designed to be affordable and to withstand rural conditions in developing countries, the laptops cost about $200 each and use solar and hand-crank power sources. OLPC employs 23 full-time workers.

Kane calls his work “the most important job I’ve ever had. This project is bigger than any one of us. This is not a business, it’s a movement.”

Kane was graduated from Notre Dame in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in accountancy, and he earned a master of business administration degree from Babson College. He began his career with Deloitte and Touche and has held senior management positions with Global BPO Services, RSA Security Inc., Aspen Technology Inc., Corechange Software, and Ardent. In addition to his work with OLPC, Kane is a senior lecturer of international finance at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

The lecture is sponsored by Notre Dame’s Center for Social Concerns, Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and Ford Program in Human Development and Solidarity, with co-sponsorship by the Department of Political Science, ND8, and the Africa Faith and Justice Network.

Contact: Paul Horn, phorn@nd.edu 

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