'The Woz' to Speak on Education, Entrepreneurship, and Starting a Revolution in a Garage

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Steve Wozniak

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Steve Wozniak, the inventor and engineer affectionately known as “the Woz” and often credited with launching the personal computer revolution, will speak at the University of Arkansas at 7 p.m. Sunday, April 7, in Barnhill Arena. He will talk about innovation, education, entrepreneurship and changing the world.

His appearance is part of the U of A student-sponsored Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture is free, open to the public and no ticket is required.

“We’re very excited to be able to bring Steve Wozniak to the U of A,” said Autumn Lewis, co-chair of the Distinguished Lecture Series committee. “When we surveyed students about who they wanted to see, he was always at or near the top of the list. But before he would sign the contract to come here, he wanted to talk to people on the committee, to find out what students wanted to hear him talk about. The fact that he wanted our input made me even more excited to hear him speak.”

Steve Wozniak was a 26-year-old college drop-out with a talent for building electronic equipment from scratch and working for Hewlitt-Packard, when he designed and built the Apple I computer, mostly to impress his friends. One of those friends, Steve Jobs, another drop-out who had a flair for marketing, convinced him they should form a company to build and sell the computers. In 1976 Apple Computer Inc. was born in Job’s garage. The next year Wozniak created the Apple II, featuring a central processing unit, a keyboard, color graphics and a floppy disk drive. It sounds like a Stone Age contraption today, but it was the beginning of the personal computer revolution. And Wozniak’s life and career were just getting started.

After several years with Apple, Wozniak decided to go back to college, in what might be considered a surprise move for a Silicon Valley icon. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California-Berkeley, and has remained a supporter of education ever since. He returned to Apple, but chose to work primarily as an engineer and a motivator for the company workforce. Meanwhile he sponsored two “US Festivals” – celebrations of technology, music and people.

In 1985 President Ronald Reagan awarded Wozniak the National Medal of Technology, the highest honor bestowed on America’s leading innovators.

Wozniak stopped working at Apple full-time in 1987, although he is still considered an employee and remains a stockholder. He has since been involved in several companies, including one for which he helped develop the first programmable universal remote control.

He has remained even busier as a philanthropist, putting much of his time and money into promoting education. He adopted the Los Gatos, Calif., school district, providing students and teachers with state-of-the-art technology equipment. He founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and was the founding sponsor of the Tech Museum and the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose.

In 2000, Wozniak was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for Technology, The Economy and Employment. He published his autobiography in 2006, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon. He has also managed to enhance his “icon” status with appearances in The Big Bang Theory and Dancing with the Stars.

Wozniak is not the first member of the Distinguished Lecture Series with a Dancing with the Stars connection. Grammy-winning singer/songwriter John Legend, who will be speaking on campus April 29, was also a contestant on the show and Apolo Ohno, who won the ballroom dancing competition – as well as Olympic speed-skating gold medals – came to the U of A as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series in 2008.

Other speakers in the student-sponsored series include Jane Goodall, Elie Wiesel, the Dalai Lama, President George H.W. Bush, and Anderson Cooper.

The Distinguished Lecture Series is a student-sponsored program. Speakers are chosen by a committee of students, faculty and staff, and the events are funded by a student-approved fee, appropriated by the Programs Allocation Board.