Willard Downs Recognized with Excellence in Diversity Award

EL SEGUNDO, Calif (6/14/05) -- Willard Downs, director of The Aerospace Corporation's Computer Systems Engineering Department, received the corporation’s second annual Excellence in Diversity Award. Dr. Bill Ballhaus, president and chief executive officer, presented Downs with the award June 14 during his quarterly report to employees.

Downs was selected for exemplifying the long-term Aerospace corporate value of inclusiveness and for valuing diversity in the pursuit of excellence in the workplace. He was also recognized for developing a summer intern program, which over the last three summers has brought students of many backgrounds to work at Aerospace and to be mentored by members of the technical staff.

The intern program has been recognized by senior management as a first-class program and has been recommended as a corporate standard for other intern programs.

In accepting the award, Downs said, “I am honored that Aerospace would take the time and effort to recognize my humble social engineering efforts in trying to promote diversity in the workplace. I am well aware of the countless other employees who foster diversity in the workplace every day and who I consider to be quite deserving of this corporate award.”

The Excellence in Diversity Award recognizes and rewards the contributions of employees or groups at Aerospace who demonstrate a commitment to the principles of PRIDE: people, respect, inclusion, diversity and equality.