Interview with Nancy Thomas: "Investing Time as Well as
Dollars"
Vol. 11, No. 2, Fall/Winter 1999
Nancy Thomas, national contributions manager for the Hewlett-Packard Company, has some
advice for companies that want to make a difference in science education. "If a
company really wants to meet its workforce needs, it has to look over the long term.
What’s more, it needs to invest time as well as dollars."
That’s the approach Hewlett-Packard has been taking during the past decade--a
decade marked by a significant investment in science education reform and the creation of
mutually productive partnerships with the NSRC and the school districts that
Hewlett-Packard supports nationwide.
It all began in 1991, when Hewlett-Packard was trying to find a way to support
improvements in math and science education for students in kindergarten through grade 12.
Thomas and her colleagues came to a meeting at the National Academy of Sciences, where
they heard a presentation on the NSRC’s programs to improve science education in
elementary schools.
The session produced results. Hewlett-Packard’s board voted to support the
development of the NSRC’s Science and Technology for
Children (STC) curriculum. The stage was set for a long-term corporate commitment to
improving science education in school districts that were sites of Hewlett-Packard
operations.
After gaining internal support for the new project, she and her colleagues began to
block out their vision of a program that could offer sustained support to school
districts. The result was the Hands-On Science Program. Under this program,
Hewlett-Packard makes three-year grants of $30,000 a year to school districts located at
Hewlett-Packard sites. Since it was established in 1992, the program has provided support
to 41 school districts, a majority of which are in the western United States.
Each district sends a team to an NSRC Strategic Planning Institute, and on that team
are a Hewlett-Packard scientist and a public affairs manager. These two individuals take
lead roles in recruiting colleagues to take part in the districtwide science education
reform effort.
What has the company learned? One lesson, Thomas says, is that "you’ve got to
put your ego on the shelf. You’re going to have to plug in where the districts want
you to go. You can never design in a vacuum."
Hewlett-Packard works in partnership with the school districts it supports. It also
works in partnership with the NSRC and with other companies and learning institutions.
During the past year, the NSRC’s Leadership and
Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) initiative is having a strong impact
on building such partnerships.
"LASER is a natural evolution of the NSRC’s national leadership development
institutes," says Thomas. "A regional catalyst--whether a company or educational
institution--that can pull things together has a huge impact on sustaining individual
district efforts. LASER offers a national structure for that effort."
Recently appointed to the NSRC’s Advisory Board, Thomas looks forward to extending
her involvement in science education reform. "I visit dozens of classrooms every
year. I’ve got firsthand knowledge of the issues that they face. I can bring this
understanding to the NSRC. At the same time, I know I will bring back from the NSRC
opportunities to help move our agenda forward."
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