Extensive Executive and Professional Background
Shirley Gee has been in the civil rights field for well over three decades specializing in Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EEO/AA). Professionally, she worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (now known as the Department of Energy) for ten years leaving in 1976 as an EEO Compliance Officer to become a University Officer for Stanford University working in the labor relations and human resource field and specializing in EEO and AA . Serving at the pleasure of the University President for well over 20 years, she reported directly to the Director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, first for the founder and world renown physicist, Dr. Wolfgang Panofsky, and then the Nobel Laureate Dr. Burton Richter. SLAC is a research facility specializing in high energy physics managed by Stanford University. She will be celebrating her 29th year with the University and is now working for the third Director, Dr. Jonathan Dorfan, a national and internationally recognized physicist and professor at Stanford University.
During her career at Stanford, she has been a innovator and champion for diversity issues. She established and administered the State-Certified Apprentice Program to bring diversity into the trades including such trades as auto mechanic, welder, plumber, electrician, HVAC Mechanics, utilities mechanic, maintenance mechanic, painter, and carpentry. She administered one of the first nationally recognized Summer Science Programs dedicated to the diversity of science focusing on minority and women undergraduates. She currently administers the Graduate in Engineering for Minorities program, a 28 year old graduate fellowship program dedicated to underrepresented minorities in the field of engineering.
She also successfully administered two technical programs for SLAC; namely the Vacuum Technology Technician Program for the hard-core unemployed and mothers with dependent child and the Electronics Technician Program for seasonal, migrant farm workers and their children. In each case, she negotiated the contracts on behalf of Stanford University and implemented the programs. Both programs resulted in 100% graduation and placement in long-term, career positions for its graduates in the Silicon Valley. She has expertise in the federal compliance field with a strong background in federal management directives and their application to prime contractors. She is also very well versed in the civil rights field and all regulations and laws associated with this field and has an extensive background in pre-litigation investigations in the field of EEO and AA.
One of her most prized achievements has been the coordination of three Nobel Laureates , Dr. Burton Richter, Dr. Martin Perl, and Dr. Richard Taylor, to speak to Oakland's Cleveland Elementary School during a tour of SLAC. The memorable taping continues to circulate throughout the Oakland Unified School District system and an example of Gee's commitment to children of Oakland and helping them to embrace science as a viable career option.