TWC Alumnus to Lecture on Career with Software Giant
-Lecture Series Continues with Robert O'Rear-

Former Microsoft Corp. executive and Texas Western College (now UTEP) alumnus Robert O'Rear will present his lecture, "From the Texas Panhandle to the Formation of the World's Largest Software Enterprise," at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11, at the Undergraduate Learning Center, Room 116.

In 1977, O'Rear became the seventh employee for Bill Gates and Paul Allen's business venture Microsoft. As the company's chief mathematician and project manager, O'Rear was the co-author of the first version of MS-DOS and placed Microsoft's software in the first IBM personal computer.

After the release of the IBM PC in 1981, O'Rear moved into international sales and marketing launching Microsoft's offices in Europe. He retired from Microsoft in 1993.

O' Rear, originally from the rural Texas Panhandle town of Wellington, earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from TWC in 1964 and went on to earn his master's degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1966.

After graduation, he worked for TRW Systems in the aerospace division writing mathematical analysis programs that supported targeting systems for ballistic missiles, spy satellites and the NASA Apollo program.

O'Rear's presentation is part of the UTEP's Millennium Lecture Series. The series focuses on issues and ideas shaping the new millennium and features speakers on a broad range of global topics, including demographics, climate change, information technology, health, and geopolitical and socioeconomic trends.
The lecture is sponsored by the UTEP President Diana Natalicio and the Office of Alumni Relations.