Oracle Education Foundation
The Oracle Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization funded by Oracle Corporation and staffed by Oracle employees. Its mission is to help young people develop the technical acumen, creative confidence, empathy, and grit to become outstanding designers of solutions to people’s needs and the world’s problems. In the Foundation's program, Oracle Volunteers coach students through multiday classes at the intersection of design thinking and STEAM disciplines—science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Students learn coding, electrical engineering, and user-centered design from real practitioners, and then apply their skills and knowledge to prototyping solutions.
History
Founded in 2000, the Oracle Education Foundation has always aimed to advance technological fluency and inclusion. From 2000-2003, the Foundation provided hardware grants to public schools in the United States, with significant numbers of students qualifying for free and reduced price school lunches. From 2003-2013, the Foundation provided ThinkQuest, a comprehensive online learning platform and annual competition that engaged hundreds of thousands of students and educators globally. And since 2014, the Foundation has provided a program that teaches technology and design thinking.
Board of directors
The Oracle Education Foundation's Board of Directors is composed of three Oracle executives and four leaders in education and philanthropy. Members include Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle Corporation; Matt Mayerson, Vice President of Manufacturing & Distribution at Oracle Corporation; Randy Smith, Vice President of Global Real Estate and Facilities at Oracle Corporation; John Baugh, Professor in Arts & Sciences and Director of African and African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis; Barbara Means, director of the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International; Dr. Ray Pecehone, Executive Director, Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) at Stanford Graduate School of Education; and Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. Colleen Cassity is the Foundation's executive director and secretary of the board.