Michael R. Gardner is Chairman of the
Board of the U.S. Telecommunications
Training Institute, a non-profit joint venture between
leaders of the U.S. communications industry and ranking
officials from the Federal Government. The goal of this
collaborative effort is to share the United States' communications
and technological advances on a global basis by providing
a comprehensive array of tuition-free telecommunications
and broadcast training courses for qualified women and
men who manage the communications infrastructures in
the developing countries of the world.
Mr. Gardner, United States Ambassador to the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference
in Nairobi, Kenya, established the USTTI in 1982
to address the important communications training
needs throughout the developing world. In planning
for the United States' participation in this Conference,
Ambassador Gardner, along with the industry and government
leaders on the U.S. delegation, recognized the compelling
need in developing nations for senior-level managerial
and technical training in telecommunications and
broadcasting.
Joining Ambassador Gardner as original founding
members of the USTTI in 1982 were: William McGowan,
the founder of MCI Communications; Dr. Joseph Charyk,
the Chairman of the Board and the first President
of the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT);
Charles Wick, the visionary Director of the United
States Information Agency (USIA) during the 1980's;
Dick Nichols, the Vice-President of AT&T International;
and Astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, the former
United States Senator from New Mexico and the twelfth
man to walk on the moon during the Apollo program.
In order to respond to this legitimate need for
diverse and quality communications training, Ambassador
Gardner asked leaders of major, and often competing,
U.S. communications corporations to join together
to provide training at no cost to qualified communications
professionals from the developing world. U.S. industry
leaders and government officials enthusiastically
responded to this need with the USTTI's first curriculum
offering in 1983, which featured thirteen tuition-free
training courses.
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