Student  experience

Students, employers connect

More than 560 business and engineering students attended a career fair in the atriums of Snead Hall and East Hall in September.

The event, coordinated by the VCU Business and Engineering Career Center, connected almost 70 employers with VCU students, who are known for being tech-savvy with innovative minds, collaborative mindsets and motivational personalities.

“These companies are looking for talented employees and our students deliver,” said Mike Eisenman, director of the VCU Business and Engineering Career Center. 

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Student wins national scholarship award

Kate Lewanowicz, a Virginia Commonwealth University sophomore political science major with a minor in media studies, recently won the Merit Award from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

Lewanowicz was one of 50 students nationwide to be presented with the prestigious award and only the third VCU student to receive it.

Merit Award recipients are selected based on how they exemplify the NSCS mission to "honor and inspire academic excellence and engaged citizenship for a lifetime."

Lewanowicz also was awarded a $1,000 scholarship.

The National Society of Collegiate Scholars is the nation’s premier honor organization for high-achieving students. Membership is by invitation only, based on grade-point average and class standing.

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Projects teaches filmmaking to area students

Richmond’s East End is a long way from Hollywood, but visitors and residents of the community might come face to face with teenage film crews this fall as part of "Peep This,” a VCU program designed to engage African-American male adolescents

“Peep This” instructor Ronald Fields (left) teaches student Daquan Everett (right) about proper lighting techniques for an interview setting as instructor Lorraine Blackwell (seated) stands in for the interviewee.

“The idea is to target young men who, based on their demographic status, are at risk and to inspire them through film-making,” said Shawn Utsey, Ph.D., who teaches in the Department of African American Studies.

Utsey was inspired to create “Peep This” after Ethiopian-born independent filmmaker Haile Gerima presented one of his films at VCU last February as part of the university’s Black History Month celebration. Gerima, who now lives in the United States and is a professor at Howard University, has directed and produced more than a dozen films that focus on the African and African American experience, including “Sankofa,” a film about slavery.

Utsey proposed a joint effort by the department of African American studies; the Department of Photography and Film; Media, Art and Text program; and Richmond-based Family Resource Center to identify and work with at risk teens.

Last spring, Utsey received financial backing for his proposal with the award of a VCU Council for Community Engagement 2008 Community Engagement Grant. Bank One has provided additional financial support.

Each of the five student participants ultimately will create a five-minute documentary focusing on historical issues relevant to the Richmond area and pertinent to Virginia’s Standards of Learning. All the documentaries will be linked in a single film that will be screened for the community before the end of the program.

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Brandcenter students show off work

Three VCU Brandcenter students exhibited advertising campaigns at the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival after receiving prestigious awards for their work.

Mollie Partesotti, Jeremy Claud and J.D. Humphreys were invited to the festival in Cannes, France, after their campaigns were selected from more than 500 entries from around the world. Partesotti and Claud, who worked as a team, and Humphreys were two of just five groups worldwide selected as Future Lions award winners, earning the right to travel to Cannes to exhibit their work for the advertising industry’s leading agencies.

Partesotti and Claud created a campaign promoting the brand Sharpie. Humphreys created a campaign promoting the brand Boblbe-e.  

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Nursing students to help in Belize

VCU School of Nursing's Nursing Students Without Borders will be traveling to the Cayo district of Belize from Dec. 31 to Jan. 9.

In this district, a tiny clinic, the Good Shepherd Clinic, serves as the main health-care provider for the region. The clinic is run by one nurse who founded it more than 50 years ago. The nursing students will volunteer at the clinic assessing patients and providing care as well as visiting three schools in the district. The group will conduct health screenings (nutrition, growth, development, vision, dental, learning abilities, etc.) on as many of the 5,000 children who need the visit as soon as possible.

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Pharmacy students lend a hand

In September, the Student Association of Community Pharmacists raised $2,720 for the Central Virginia chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Walk MS in Tappahanock, led by co-captains Lauren Marston and Edward Caldas, included 14 School of Pharmacy students; School of Pharmacy assistant professor Sallie Mayer; two School of Pharmacy parents, Robert and Maria Marston; and one School of Nursing student, Meredith McNeill.

Also in September, a VCU School of Pharmacy team -- 52 walkers led by co-captains Holly Gurgle and Toni Coe -- raised nearly $2,600 for the American Diabetes Association.

Sharon Gatewood, assistant professor in the School of Pharmacy, served as co-director of ADA's local Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes. Twenty-four VCU pre-pharmacy undergrads volunteered at the event, helping with set-up and cheering for walkers.

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Students don white coats

This fall, students in the schools of Dentistry, Medicine and Pharmacy were given their white coats in ceremonies across campus.

For the School of Dentistry, the presentation of white clinic coats to the dental school Class of 2011 and the dental hygiene Class of 2010 symbolizes the students’

Faculty member Dr. J. Robert Eshleman (D.D.S’60/D) congratulates Crystal Sorensen on receiving her white coat.

A capacity crowd filled the Medical Sciences Building on Oct. 3 for the 9th annual ceremony. In her remarks, parent, alumna, and guest speaker Dr. Sheila Vacendak (D.D.S.’97/D) reminded students of the unique skills and abilities that are required of them as they treat patients in the clinics now and in practice after graduation. She also reminisced about her years at the school and encouraged students to take advantage of the many learning opportunities.

The 13th annual White Coat Ceremony in the School of Medicince, held Aug. 14 during M1 orientation, featured remarks by Dr. Aradhana “Bela” Sood (M.S.H.A’06/AHP). The ceremony celebrates the students’ entry into the medical profession and addresses the special nature of the doctor-patient relationship.

The ceremony for the School of Pharmacy was almost waylaid by Hurricane Hanna, but the Class of 2012 officially became members of VCU School of Pharmacy on Sept. 6.

Dean Victor A. Yanchick’s opening remarks to the nearly standing-room-only crowd at the Greater Richmond Convention Center concentrated on nine professional behaviors a student pharmacist should exhibit, ranging from basic ethics to nondiscrimination and from compassion to respect.

A White Coat Ceremony initiative offered School of Pharmacy alumni the opportunity to pay for a student’s coat with a $50 donation. If donors wished, their names were included in the coats. The program, only in its second year, paid for about 20 percent of the new white coats.

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