Return on investment
Christina Fleming embarked upon a career in marketing with the goal of getting an executive MBA degree, but other commitments kept getting in the way. She got married, had two children and moved up the corporate ladder for 26 years, rising to chief marketing officer at Blackboard Inc., a global education technology company that [...]
A step up the ladder
Internships often help college students learn what they want to do as a profession by expanding their horizons, providing on-the-job experience or helping them change paths to follow a new passion. For instance, an internship helped Virginia Commonwealth University student Oscar Kemp discover that his interest in domestic social[...]
Genworth president gives $1.5M to W&M
William & Mary has established a new postdoctoral fellowship in its Global Research Institute, funded by a $1.5 million gift from Genworth Financial Inc. President and CEO Tom McInerney, the college announced Wednesday. The fellowship will advance the GRI’s international study and research collaborations. A multidiscip[...]
JMU fundraising campaign brings in $251M
James Madison University’s second comprehensive fundraising campaign, Unleashed, raised more than $251 million, the Harrisonburg university announced Friday. The eight-year fundraising campaign, which exceeded its $200 million goal in March 2021, ended June 30. It began with an advanced gift phase in July 2014 before JMU annou[...]
Va. Tech taps Fralin Life Sciences Institute leader
A chemistry professor from Louisiana State University will join Virginia Tech as executive director of its Fralin Life Sciences Institute. Robin L. McCarley will start Dec. 1, the university announced Thursday. He was selected following a national search. McCarley is currently the Barbara Womack Alumni Association Endowed Profes[...]
Bowman gives $5M to Va. Tech for land development program
Reston-based Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. founder and CEO Gary Bowman committed $5 million to Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering for the expansion of sustainable land development learning initiatives, the university announced Monday. “The Bowman gift solidifies Virginia Tech as the premier undergraduate and graduate [...]
Upward mobility
Last year, when Old Dominion University was searching for its new president, the executive search firm contracted by the university also provided a bit of business intelligence about how the university of 24,000 students in Norfolk was viewed nationally. “Old Dominion University was seen as a university on the rise,” says OD[...]
Workforce development resources
The Apprentice School Founded in 1919, The Apprentice School in Newport News has trained 11,000 shipyard workers over its long history. The school at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division offers four-, five- and eight-year paid apprenticeships in 19 shipbuilding disciplines and eight advanced programs of study, including supply chain management and marine engineering. […][...]
A stitch in time
At the end of 2020, Eastern Virginia Medical School firmly rejected a study recommending that the medical school merge to become part of Old Dominion University. But time passes, minds change, and sometimes there’s turnover at the top. In August 2021, Dr. Richard Homan, who’d led EVMS for nearly a decade, retired. By Decem[...]
Launching pad
When COVID-19 hit in spring 2020, Cindy R. Earl lost her job as a furniture company’s sales rep. But the Portsmouth resident’s sudden unemployment came with a positive side effect: She had time to assume care of her ailing grandmother after the pandemic had shuttered the assisted living facility where her grandmother had l[...]
Conways make $13M donation to VCU nursing school
McLean philanthropists Joanne and William E. Conway Jr. have given $13 million to Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Nursing, the university announced Monday. The gift is the largest in the school’s history and will provide more than 1,000 undergraduate and doctoral students with scholarships over the next [...]
Apex Systems co-founder gives $500,000 to Va. Tech
Virginia Tech’s Apex Center for Entrepreneurs has received a $500,000 donation from Apex Systems co-founder Win Sheridan. A 1994 Tech graduate with bachelor’s degrees in political science and English with a minor in business administration, Sheridan made the donation to help the Apex Center engage with student entrepreneurs through programing, networking and funding, according to […][...]