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Email
Ray Tomlinson first introduced the internet in 1971; however, it was not used by the public until the early 1990s (Bainbridge, 2004). An email is a form of communication that changed the way individuals exchange ideas and messages. It is beneficial for customers, staff, and business. It permits the exchange of information in seconds. Email transformed the way businesses send information. -
The Americans with Disabilities Act is signed
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in areas such as employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local government programs and services. It was signed into law in 1990 (EEOC, n.d.). It was the nation's first comprehensive civil rights law that addressed the needs of individuals with disabilities. -
Microsoft Office
Microsoft offered it’s most popular desktop applications as a bundle called The Microsoft Office (History & evolution of Microsoft software, n.d.). In 1990, they released a version for Windows (Word 1.1, Excel 2.0, PowerPoint 2.0). These products brought all members within the organization together with the use of increased productivity software. We’ve seen many versions over the years each version building on the features of the last as part of an evolution that has shaped the way people work. -
The Gulf War
January 1991, the Persian Gulf War launched with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm (History.com, 2009). After 42 days of relentless air and on-ground attacks by the allied coalition, U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire on February 28; by that time, most Iraqi forces in Kuwait had either surrendered or fled. -
Mosaic - commercial browser
Mosaic is the web browser credited for popularizing the World Wide Web. In January 1993, Mosaic was posted for free download and became instantly popular, with over 5000 downloads each month (NCSA Mosaic, n.d.). The bigger audiences spurred new content, which increased web users and so on. As users on the Web increased, Mosaic was the browser of choice. The internet changed education, business, communication, and medicine as people had instant access to information. -
Global Positioning System - GPS
In the early 1970's, the Department of Defense (DoD) wanted to ensure a satellite navigation system was available (Mai, 2012). The DoD with Navy scientists decided to use satellites to support their proposed navigation system. DoD launched its first Navigation System with Timing and Ranging (NAVSTAR) satellite in 1978. The 24 satellite system became fully operational in 1993. Today, GPS is a multi-use system that meets national defense, homeland security, civil, commercial, and scientific needs. -
Amazon launced
In 1995, Amazon was launched as a website that sold only books (Hartmans, 2018). The founder, Jeff Bezos, had an idea for the company's explosive growth and e-commerce domination. He expected Amazon to eventually sell everything. Amazon provides easy access to hundreds of millions of products at low cost and fast shipping for customers and businesses. Retail stores have been impacted as Amazon reaches into their market and steals revenue. -
NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) created one of the nation's largest free trade zones and set the ground work for strong economic growth and rising prosperity in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico (NAFTA, n.d.). NAFTA continued to show how free trade increased wealth and competition and delivered benefits to manufacturers and consumers, as well as other groups. -
HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA") was designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the nation's health care system by encouraging the use of electronic data interchange, while providing appropriate safeguards to protect the privacy of a person's health information by placing limits on the access, use, and disclosure of protected health information (Kempfert & Reed, 2011). -
Google
The Google story began in 1995 at Stanford University when Larry Page met Sergey Brin during a school visit (From the garage to the Googleplex, n.d.). They built a search engine from their dorm rooms that next year. Their mission was to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google continues to follow the mission of searching for better answers for everything. It makes hundreds of products used by people across the globe, from YouTube to Google Search. -
Operation Desert Fox
Operation Desert Fox was a three-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from December 16-19, 1998 (Saddam's Iraq, n.d.). The goal was to limit Saddam Hussein's ability to produce weapons of mass destruction. The nearly 100 targets included sites housing the regime’s secret police and elite Republican Guard forces, airfields, air defense sites and a Basra oil refinery as well as chemical and biological weapons production sites. -
Columbine Shooting
The Columbine shooting occurred on April 20, 1999, in Littleton, Colorado. Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, killed twelve students and one teacher before ending their own lives in the school library (Columbine High School shootings fast facts, n.d.). The Columbine shootings rank as one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. Also, it is one of the deadliest episodes of school violence. -
Y2K
The Y2K bug was anticipated to cause problems when the date reached 1-1-2000 (Y2K bug, n.d.). The Y2K bug, or millennium bug, was a flaw faced by computer programmers and users all over the world. When computer engineers wrote computer programs, they only used a two-digit code for the year. As the date neared, programmers realized that computers might not interpret 00 as 2000 but as 1900. Many countries spent millions of dollars to combat the problem that never occurred. -
9/11 and the collapse of the World Trade Center
The entire business community felt the aftermath when America was attacked by Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001 (Davis, 2011). Almost every sector of the economy took a hit. The insurance industry was hit with 9/11-related claims estimated at some $40 billion which most firms covered these claims with cash reserves. Gas and oil prices soared as fears emerged that oil imports from the Middle East would come to an end. Air travel declined significantly. -
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind law provided an update of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Korte, 2015). NCLB scaled up the federal role in holding schools accountable for student outcomes. It ensured students remained internationally competitive. The law also requires states to ensure their teachers are “highly qualified,” which expects that they have a bachelor’s degree in the subject they are teaching and state certification. It impacted all schools and teachers in the school system. -
Skype
Skype provided a communication tool for people around the world to do things better, whenever they were apart (Yeung, 2013). Skype began as a way to make calls over the Internet and quickly innovated with features to permit all types of communication. It is considered a pioneer in Voice over IP technology. Skype is an abbreviation for "Sky Peer to Peer". It was a free service when long distance calling wasn't convenient. It offered a way for college students to call home to family far away. -
Operation Iraqi Freedom
On March 17, 2003, President George W. Bush issues an ultimatum to President Hussein and his family - leave Iraq within 48 hours or face military action (History.com, 2009). Two days later - President Bush announces US and coalition forces have begun military action against Iraq. -
Facebook
What started as a social networking platform, quickly became an avenue for businesses to advertise services and products, and opportunities for public relations purposes (Williams, 2014). Facebook enabled companies, employers and retailers to pick and choose their audience by the user profile. Facebook impacted democracy in the US proving integral in the political process as the site’s interactive traffic has been credited for its ability to predict election outcomes and boost voter turnout. -
Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA 2004)
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 2004 is a law that children with disabilities had access to public education through services that meet their individual needs (Special Education Advisor, n.d.). These services enabled children to continue their education to prepare them for life as an adult. As a result, children with disabilities were given the opportunity to receive intervention services related to their disability to help them access the public school curriculum. -
Hurricane Katrina
Katrina is the third deadliest hurricane in U.S. history. In New Orleans, people were trapped in houses and on roofs as rising water rose quickly (Katrina impacts, n.d.). The flooding and damage from Katrina delayed rescue and aid efforts for days. Besides the death toll, hurricane Katrina left many people homeless as over 800,000 housing units were destroyed or damaged. Katrina is the costliest U.S hurricane, with estimated damage over $81 billion and costs over $160 billion (2005 US dollars). -
Virginia Tech Shooting Incident
April 16, 2007, was the 9/11 for colleges and universities as 32 students were killed and 17 wounded in the deadliest mass school shooting at Virginia Tech University (Winn, 2017). The shooting at VT transformed the way college public safety departments function and opened everyone’s eyes to the importance of emergency preparedness. Changes began happening at the state and national level immediately for school safety and evaluation of emergency response standards and requirements. -
Apple introduces the Iphone
The Apple iPhone was like having a computer in your pocket. It had a camera, a calendar, an iPod and was capable of running games. The iPhone made possible paying bills, searching the internet, and making calls available from one device. It provided a fix for text-obsessed teens and corporate employees tied to their email inboxes. It changed the mobile device industry. The world was now available at a user’s fingertips. -
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
The EESA referred to as the bailout gave the Treasury Secretary the authority to buy up to $700 billion of troubled assets and restore liquidity in financial markets (ESSA, n.d.). The act is credited for having restored stability and liquidity to the financial sector, unfreezing the markets for credit and capital, and bringing down the cost of borrowing for households and businesses. EESA restored confidence in the financial system. It restarted economic growth. -
Great Recession
Worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. It threatened the collapse of large financial institutions. -
Square
Square was created by the co-inventor of Twitter, Jack Dorsey (Square, Inc., n.d.). The device plugs into a smartphone, allowing customers to virtually use the smartphone as a register. This was a particularly pivotal invention for small and local business owners. Businesses have the flexibility to make the payment process easier for customers as the square is transportable to any location. It allows customers to pay with a debit or credit card. -
HITECH
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) improved the nation's health care through Health Information Technology (HIT) by promoting the "meaningful use" of electronic health records (EHR) (Kempfert & Reed, 2011). It provided financial incentives to health care providers to adopt an EHR system early and financial disincentives for failing to do so. It was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Funding was available both nationally and state. -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is a law passed by the U.S. Congress (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, n.d.). The ARRA called for a massive round of federal spending designed to create new jobs and recover jobs lost in the Great Recession of 2008. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is better known as the stimulus package of 2009 or the Obama stimulus. This government spending was proposed to compensate for a slowdown in private investment in that year. -
Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, was signed into law with full implementation expected in 2014 (Rosenbaum, 2011). ACA reframes the financial relationship between Americans and the health-care system to limit the health insurance crisis that has occurred with individuals, families, communities, the health-care system, and the national economy as a whole. It is expected to realign the health-care system for long-term changes in health-care quality, practice, and transparency. -
Common Core Standards Initiative
The Common Core was proposed to raise student proficiencies in order for the United States to better complete in a global market (McArdle, 2014). Under the law, the nation's 40 million K-12 students would receive the same high-quality education regardless of which school they attended. It placed emphasis on the expectation that a child's education is critical to the future of our country by setting goals and standards while not mandating universal curriculum. -
Operation New Dawn
Operation Iraqi Freedom is renamed Operation New Dawn to reflect the reduced role US troops will play in securing the country. -
OCR - Dear Colleague Letter
The Dear Colleague Letter was released from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to reiterate to schools their obligations to prevent and address sexual violence under Title IX (OCR, 2011). It reminds schools that under Title IX that all schools receiving federal funds are to take immediate and effective action to respond to sexual violence. Schools must designate a Title IX coordinator that oversees the investigation process fairly, equitably, and timely. -
Supreme Court overturns the Defense of Marriage Act
In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional (Peralta, 2013). DOMA defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. This decision granted that legally married same-sex couples are now entitled to the same federal benefits as married opposite sex couples. This gave businesses the ability to offer partner benefits to employees.
