MAR 2005 -6-

Three women of national and international reputation and accomplishment are scheduled to visit Brenau University as part of the "2005-06 Brenau Success Series: Women of Impact." Sponsored by the Ivester Endowment Fund, Brenau students will hear Olympic soccer co-captain Julie Foudy, first woman astronaut Sally Ride, Ph.D. and Hungarian ambassador and breast cancer crusader Nancy Brinker. The Ivester Endowment Fund was established by M. Douglas Ivester to bring speakers of distinction to the Brenau University campus. Foudy, a Stanford graduate and resident of Mission Viejo, Calif., will visit Brenau Thursday, Sept. 15 and plans to meet with communication majors before she gives an address at formal fall convocation. Later she will meet with the Brenau soccer team and give and informal clinic. Foudy is captain and a 16-year veteran of the U.S. Women's National Team; she is the third most-capped player in U.S. and world history. Through the end of 2003, she had started 229 of the 239 games in which she appeared. She has started in all six of the world championship events played by the U.S. women and scored in all four Women's World Cup tournaments. A member of the gold medal-winning team at the 1996 Olympic Games, she started and played every minute of the USA's five matches at the '96 Olympic Games. Foudy assisted on Shannon MacMillan's sudden death overtime goal in the Olympic semifinal to defeat Norway.	Photo: NASA archive	Brenau welcomes former NASA astronaut Sally K. Ride, Ph.D. on Nov. 17. Ride received a bachelor of science in physics and a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1973 from Stanford University, and Master of Science and doctorate in physics in 1975 and 1978, respectively. Dr. Ride was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978.
	In August 1979, she completed a one year training and evaluation period, making her eligible for assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flight crews. She subsequently performed as an on-orbit capsule communicator (CAPCOM) on the STS-2 and STS-3 missions. Chosen for a third mission, she terminated mission training in January 1986 in order to serve as a member of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Upon completion of the investigation she was assigned to NASA Headquarters as Special Assistant to the Administrator for long range and strategic planning. Ride joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego, in 1989 as a physics professor. She is also Director of the California Space Institute, a research institute of the University of California.

Nancy Goodman Brinker, former ambassador to Hungary and founder of the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation, visits March 30, 2006. In 1982, following the death of her sister from breast cancer Brinker dedicated her life to eradicating breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment. She established the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation with only a few hundred dollars of her own saving. To date, the Komen Foundation has raised more than $500 million and is recognized as the leading organization in the fight against breast cancer. With more than 75,000 volunteers around the globe, the Foundation is the largest breast cancer organization in the world. Not content with founding the largest breast cancer organization in the world, Brinker accepted President George W. Bush's nomination of Ambassador to Hungary in 2001, and her achievements there are equally impressive. She helped to preserve tax benefits and lower tariffs on U.S. Companies doing business in Hungary. Brinker negotiated the hosting and training of the Free Iraqi Forces, an expatriate group who later joined coalition forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom, making Hungary the first European country to contribute to regime change in Iraq. Her groundbreaking efforts to advance the cause of women's health in Hungary included a symposium and ceremonial walk across the country's oldest bridge (lit pink for the occasion) to raise breast cancer awareness.

Photo: the fight against cancer is a common theme on the Brenau campus.