IMPACT
Creating Transformational Experiences Through Philanthropy
Spring2016
In this Issue:
Business.gmu.edu/Contribute
Ariel Smith: Scholarship recipient credits Mason for her transformation Career Services: Producing career-ready graduates through professional development and experiential learning An Innovation Hub: Creating a vibrant environment for innovation and startups at Mason
impact
Message from the Dean Small sacrifices can have major impacts. We see it every day with our students. For some, the sacrifices are made by their families who financially support them so they can earn a degree. For others, the sacrifices are time with friends or family so they can work full- or part-time jobs to put themselves through college.
Merit-Based Scholarships – Many high-performing high school students and prospective graduate students apply to Mason but choose to attend other universities. Enticing the brightest students to come to Mason with merit-based scholarships elevates the classroom experience for everyone.
Unfortunately, not all of our students have families to financially support them or can find jobs that cover the cost of tuition. They struggle to make ends meet and pay tuition. They work longer hours trading needed study time for the chance to earn the money needed to stay in school.
Career Services – The School of Business student to career counselor ratio is 1300 to 1. More career counselors means a personalized career coaching experience for each student, more professional development programming, and more career-ready graduates.
We need you—our alumni, friends, and supporters—to make small sacrifices so our students don’t have to make a big sacrifice: their education.
Every gift matters. Please consider donating to one of the areas above. Continue reading this issue of Impact to find out what kind of major impact your gift can have on these areas.
Mason is in the final stage of a major capital campaign. We’ve identified our top areas of need—areas that will have the most impact on our ability to create career-ready graduates. They include the following:
On behalf of our students, will you join us?
Need-Based Scholarships – Many of our business students are working more than 20 hours a week to make ends meet. Imagine if we could offer scholarships that would allow students to stay in school full time and intern rather than holding on to their bartending jobs.
Sarah E. Nutter Dean
funding Priorities
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 2
Career Services provides personalized career coaching experiences and professional development programming to ensure we prepare career-ready graduates for prospective employers. Need-Based Scholarships allow our students to spend more time on their studies and completing a professional internship than working part- or full-time jobs to pay for their education. Merit-Based Scholarships enable us to attract the brightest prospective undergraduate and graduate students to Mason, elevating the classroom experience for all students. Faculty Fellowships, Professorships, & Chairs enable us to retain all-star faculty and to attract top faculty from other universities that raises the quality of education we deliver and the quality of research for our community. Centers of Expertise establish credibility and strengthen our capacity to dramatically expand research output and cocurricular programming.
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSiTY | SCHOOL OF Business
Spring2016
Gifts in Action Perseverance. Dedication. Transformation. These words embody Ariel Smith, a senior double-majoring in accounting and information systems and operations management with plans to graduate this May. Smith exemplifies what it means to be a student in Mason’s School of Business. Like many college students, she’s had to grapple with the financial burden of college. During her sophomore year of college, her father lost his business—a devastating blow to her family. Soon after, her mother also lost her job. “My entire family was going through the most difficult time of our lives, and I felt that the cost of my schooling only added to the stress,” says Smith. She says her family wouldn’t consider the idea of her not continuing her education, but they struggled to figure out how to make ends meet. Leaning on her own merits, she applied for as many scholarships as she could and was chosen as a Gunston Scholar and a recipient of the Accounting Excellence Award. Smith’s family contributed as much as they could, and she held three part-time jobs working 20-30 hours a week during the semester and 40 hours a week during the summer to earn money to put toward her education. These efforts combined with the scholarships she earned enabled her to continue her education without interruption. After overcoming her financial obstacles, Smith seized every opportunity she could at Mason. “I did research in sociology, tutoring in writing, and teaching in finance. I never planned to do any of these things, yet Mason’s faculty reached out. I didn’t think I would be able to explore so much
beyond my major, but because the professors at Mason truly care, I was able to learn much more than the words in a textbook.” Learn more about Ariel Smith at business.gmu.edu/ariel.
Scholarships Have impact Student scholarships help turn dreams into realities. They enable students to spend more time on their studies than part-time jobs, and in the case of Ariel Smith, student scholarships can transform educational experiences. Contribute to student scholarships at business.gmu.edu/give-scholarship.
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impact
How to Make an Impact Career Services
Career Services
business.gmu.edu/give-career
Connecting employers with students is an important culminating experience for any institution of higher education. This is especially true at Mason where one in three students are first generation college students. It’s one thing to look for a job when you can rely on your connections or networking experiences, and it’s another entirely when those connections don’t exist.
Immediate Impact
$20,000
Enabling every student to engage in a professional experience—an internship, a conference, employer site visit— would broaden what they learn in the classroom dramatically. A gift of $20,000 would enable us to expand our programming including our signature career events, JobQuest, Ask the Professional panels, and online career recruitment.
Transformational Impact
$195,000
Currently, the School of Business student to career counselor ratio is 1300 to 1. A gift of $195,000 would enable us to expand our career services staff. Additional staff would mean a more personal, immediate career advising experience with enhanced programming for our students and a stronger connection with employers.
Visionary Gift
$3,500,000
Our success can be measured by the impact our students make in the world. A visionary gift in support of a Center for Professional Development and Experiential Learning would allow us to develop a professional physical space and add to our skilled staff to support our students on their journey. A transformed physical space for career services would provide professional facilities to conduct mock interviews, workstations for student career research, and meeting space for students and prospective employers, professional development workshops, and networking events—all of which would expose students to the atmosphere of a professional office. A visionary gift would staff the career center with a full-time experiential learning coordinator and additional career advisors ready to support students’ academic and career development. Giving our students the opportunity to work with staff focused on maximizing student success from the classroom to the business world and providing professional space to support those goals would transform the student experience at the School of Business. To make an immediate, transformational, or visionary gift toward career services, give online today at business.gmu.edu/give-career or call Eleanor Weis at 703-993-2412 to discuss opportunities.
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GEORGE MASON UNIVERSiTY | SCHOOL OF Business
Innovation
Spring2016
How to Make an Impact Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship business.gmu.edu/give-innovation
The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship provides students, alumni, and the community the opportunity to learn, experiment, and innovate. We offer designated spaces for training and learning, events to practice pitches, opportunities to seek funding, speakers to address key stages of development, and experienced mentors and investors. We have created a vibrant environment for innovation and startups—right here at Mason. Just ask John T. Hill, winner of this year’s annual Deans’ Business Plan Competition. The economics major will use the $10,000 prize money to continue to get his company EasyFBO off the ground.
Immediate Impact
$50-$30,000
Learn by doing. The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers students a wide range of hands-on activities for budding innovators and entrepreneurs. From an in-depth curriculum that walks students through the process of creating a viable business plan to a makerspace where students can tinker, play, break, and build, the center provides opportunities for students and alumni from all Mason majors and with varying levels of experience. You can make an immediate impact with any of the following ■■ $2,500 - Support Startup Mason and its monthly meetings for six months ■■ $3,000 - Sponsor a team as they complete the semester long Mason Innovation Lab program ■■ $4,000 - Expand programming for the student-run Startup Vixens club ■■ $7,500 - Fund a conference where academic research in entrepreneurship is presented ■■ $20,000 - Upgrade equipment and fully supply the MIX@Innovaton makerspace ■■ $50 each - microcontroller unit and soldering kit ■■ $100 each - scanner ■■ $200 each - sewing machine ■■ $1,000 each - 3D printer ■■ $3,000 - solder fume hood ■■ $4,000 each laser cutter ■■ $25,000 - Sponsor prize money for the annual Deans’ Business Plan Competition ■■ $30,000 - Underwrite a scholarship endowment for an Entrepreneurship Minor student To make an immediate impact on the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, give online today at business.gmu.edu/give-innovation or call Eleanor Weis at 703-993-2412 to discuss opportunities.
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GEORGE MASON UNIVERSiTY | SCHOOL OF Business
Spring2016
Donor Recognition Corporate Partners $10,000+
Anonymous Anonymous Bajaj Family Foundation, Inc. Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP Brown and Brown Insurance Buchanan Partners, LLC ECS Mid-Atlantic LLC
Equinox Investments, LLC James G. Davis Construction Corporation Kearney & Company, P.C. KPMG NAIOP Northern Virginia Reed Smith The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia
The Peterson Companies Van Metre Companies Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. Walsh Colucci Lubeley Walsh PC Weber Rector
Patriots $100,000+ Dale* & Sharon Wince Jr.
Champions $10,000 - $25,000
Xavier Alire Steven and Majorie Alloy
Anne Altman* Cheryl Amyx*
Jerry & Jackie Grossman W. Craig & Dr. Kim* Havenner
Supporters Anderson Tax Annandale Millwork/Allied Systems Corp Aronson Company Array Information Technology BDO USA, LLP James & Linda Beers Stephen* & Barbara Bouchard Capital Group Comstock Development Services, LC Deloitte LLP
$5,000- $9,999
DHG Eagle Ray Inc Eden Center Inc EY Focus Wealth Management LTD James Fontana Nicole* & Harry Geller John Hillen (Hon.) Mary & David Holt Richard & Harriet Larsen
Harold* & Linda* Rauner Reston Limousine RSM US LLP Brian* & Elizabeth Seagrave Sumeet* & Joya Shrivastava Sutherland Government Solutions, Inc. The Rotary Club of Dunn Loring- Merrifield The Schaufeld Family Foundation The Stevie Awards Inc
Friends Anonymous Anonymous AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co Anthony & Diane Brozna The Business Journals Capital One Services LLC CGI Technologies & Solutions, Inc. CliftonLarsonAllen LLP Lynn Alexis Lee Corey Matthew Cromwell* Stephen Cumbie & Druscilla French Wagih & Sally Dafashy DLA Piper Olufemi Elegbe*
$1,000 - $4,999
ExxonMobil Foundation Frank & Company, P.C. Gene & Ellen Frogale* GEICO Karrie Goldstein Grant Thornton Foundation Kaylene* & Robert* Green Susan* & Bentley Gregg Kat Grimsley Grossberg Company LLP Helios HR Jeffrey Houle Jeffrey Johnson Kinsey Properties LLC
David La Mar* Leidos, Inc. Roger Lin* Ling & Jonathan* Lisic Miller Consulting Group, LLC Michelle* & Nelson Montes Murray, Jonson, White & Associates, Ltd Network for Good Sarah & David Nutter PBMares Janis Reed* Debra* & Robert Richardson Philip Rouse, II*
Rubino & Company Ola* & Richard Sage Eric* & Sara Smeby Mary Szpanka* Thompson, Greenspon & Co. P.C. Mark Troutman* Upside Thinking, Inc. Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian Vencore Services and Solutions Inc VISTA Wealth Strategies LLC William & Patricia Walsh Janice* & Michael Ward Eleanor & Ed Weis Wells Fargo Foundation
Note: Donors represented have given to the School of Business at the levels represented between July 1, 2015 and May 2, 2016. *George Mason University Alumnus/Alumna
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Non-Profit Organization U.S. POSTAGE PAID Fairfax, VA Permit 1532
4400 University Drive, MS 5A1 Fairfax, VA 22030
You may think you need great wealth to make a significant gift to Mason, but every gift—whether it’s $5 or $5 million—helps us move faster, farther. There are only 75 scholarships given at the School of Business for our more than 4,000 students. Would you like to change a life by contributing to a scholarship?
Name a scholarship, a classroom, a center—and leave a lasting legacy. Ever want to see your name in lights?
Each year we lose outstanding faculty to other universities. Can you help us keep our allstar faculty by supporting a professorship?
Planned giving is an easy and thoughtful way to set aside money in the future and get the tax benefit today. Would you like to know more?
Make an impact today or create a legacy for the future! Contact Eleanor Weis at eweis2@gmu.edu or 703-993-2412 Business.gmu.edu/contribute