For immediate release                                                                                                                                             Contact: Karen Ahearn

October 11, 2004                                                                                                                                                      Communications Manager

                                                                                                                                                                                     412-481-7320

                                                                                                                                                                                     kahearn@assetinc.org

WHO:                                  ASSET (Achieving Student Success through Excellence in Teaching) Inc.

                                            Event Chair Dr. Attila Molnar, President and Chief Executive Officer,

                                            Bayer Corporation, Presenting Sponsor

WHAT:                                ASSET Inc. 10 th Anniversary Celebration

                                            This momentous event will celebrate ASSET's impact on science education reform throughout the region in                                                        collaboration with many corporate and community partners. The gala also ushers in a new era as ASSET

                                            expands its reach to continuously improve teaching and learning across the curriculum throughout Western                                                    Pennsylvania and beyond.

WHEN:                                Thursday, December 2, 2004

                                             Reception at 6 p.m. ; Dinner at 7 p.m.

WHERE:                              Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center

For more information about ASSET's 10th Anniversary Celebration, please call 412-481-7320.

About ASSET Inc.

Established by Bayer Corporation and other community partners in 1994, ASSET currently provides K-8 standards-based science materials and teacher professional development programs that directly impact 3,000 teachers and 63,000 students in 44 school districts, charter and private schools. Students in more than 180 ASSET member schools across western Pennsylvania experience standards-based learning materials using an inquiry approach and are taught by teachers who receive professional development directly linked to the curriculum.

The largest program of its kind in the state, ASSET is the only one of 22 educational reform programs originally funded by the National Science Foundation that has achieved operational self-sustaining status. ASSET Inc. is an independent, nonprofit education reform initiative dedicated to continuously improve the abilities of teachers with initial efforts in K-8 science and technology education.