VCU news

By Sabrina Walters
University News Services

The Virginia Commonwealth University Career Center, the VCU School of Engineering and the VCU School of Business have received grants from Philip Morris USA totaling more than $69,000.

The checks were presented recently in the School of Business’ new Snead Hall by VCU alumnus Mary Gordon, vice president and general manager of the Richmond Manufacturing Center for Philip Morris.

“Thanks for supporting our shared goal of training individuals and creating long-term values,” said VCU President Eugene P. Trani, adding that the company has donated a great deal of financial support to VCU over the years and provided jobs for hundreds of graduates.

Philip Morris distributed grant money to the University Career Center, which will use it for leadership programs and podcasting. The schools of Business and Engineering career center will use the grant to support a student activities coordinator’s position. In addition, the School of Engineering’s Student Services Center will use the grant for tutoring and lab assistance programs.

Prior to the check presentation, Philip Morris representatives — and VCU graduates — Erin Nollie and Daniel Cancro conducted an information session on employment, internship and co-op opportunities for about 40 business and engineering majors. 

Both VCU alumni say they benefited from the internship and co-op programs instituted by VCU’s Career Services Center. Upon completing their programs, Cancro and Nollie were offered full-time associate engineer positions at Philip Morris.

During the check presentation, Mike Eisenman, director of Business/Engineering Career Counsel, received a check for $25,000.

Eisenman said the student activities coordinator will work with organizations, their leaders and advisers “to develop the appropriate programming tailored to company’s needs, which provides increased opportunities and campuswide exposure to our students.

“Additionally, it allows students to review and understand their post graduation options,” he said.

Sue Story, director of career services at the University Career Center, also received a $25,000 check, which will sustain UCS’s student leadership efforts through the Career Ambassadors program, podcasts, E-Recruiting/Experience, InterviewStream and DISCOVER and Digital Revolutions programs. 

This is the fifth consecutive year that the Career Center has received grant funding from Philip Morris.

“The funding helps all VCU students by providing new and improved ways of communicating with our new generation of students,” Story said. “Through podcasting, the Career Center is able to broadcast various five- to 10-minute segments that are accessible through student iPods or other electronic devices.”
 
Additionally, the Student Services Center in the School of Engineering received more than $19,000 to support the School of Engineering’s center for tutoring and lab assistance programs. The lab assistance program allows the school to hire upperclassmen to help students with the laboratory component of their courses.

“This allows the hiring of more senior students, which ensures that the required experiments, projects and other coursework are going smoothly and the younger students have a better understanding of their corresponding lab work,” said Jennifer Rivers, director of Student Services.

Philip Morris USA is part of Altria Group Inc., employing approximately 5,800 at 13 different facilities in the central Virginia area.