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High Point University

High Point University Preparing students to thrive in a changing world

At $120 million, the 220,000-square-foot Congdon Hall and the programs inside are the single largest investment in High Point University’s history.

The facility is home to the Congdon School of Health Sciences, which offers a doctoral program in physical therapy and master’s degrees in physician assistant studies and athletic training, as well as the Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy, which offers a doctoral degree in pharmacy.

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High Point Preparing students to thrive in a changing world

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At $120 million, the 220,000-square-foot Congdon Hall and the programs inside are the single largest investment in High Point University’s history. The facility is home to the Congdon School of Health Sciences, which offers a doctoral program in physical therapy and master’s degrees in physician assistant studies and athletic training, as well as the Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy, which offers a doctoral degree in pharmacy.

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Intentional campus culture

rom his office in Waco, Texas, John Marsicano draws from the lessons he learned as a student at High Point University: adapt, be quick, solve prob-

lems and bring value to the table. He does all of that as a public relations specialist at Magnolia, the famous home and lifestyle brand built by Chip and Joanna Gaines, who’ve become household names through their HGTV series “Fixer Upper.”

Marsicano shares Magnolia’s story with the world. As the brand continues to grow, so does the responsibility. High Point University prepared him to take it on. “In my opinion, holistic education is the true differentiator for High Point University,” says the native of New York’s Long Island and member of the Class of 2015. “And that’s not something you just move on from after four years. Everything you work to achieve at HPU — the opportunities, the experiences, the work ethic — is forever embedded in your DNA. It serves as a foundation for continued growth.”

Stroll across High Point University’s campus, and you’ll immediately notice the perfectly manicured landscape. There isn’t a scrap of paper on the ground. Students smile, say hello and hold the door when you enter any of the buildings, whose lobbies resemble some of the world’s most successful companies and organizations. Many are brand new. A banner hangs from one’s facade. It reads: “Choose To Be Extraordinary.” That message is conveyed by faculty and administrators to every HPU student, from freshmen to graduate studies. It isn’t hyperbole. The campus believes this simple, yet profound, call to action.

While students study a variety of majors, High Point University makes sure they all leave with certain skills. HPU believes that students should enter the workforce with tools forged from experience and not merely memorized from textbooks. At least 25% of a student’s education at HPU is experiential, which prepares them to enter their first job with confidence.

Nido Qubein is HPU’s president. After arriving in the U.S. from the Middle East with $50 and no working knowledge of English, he attended Mount Olive College and graduated from High Point University with a bachelor’s degree. He worked his way through each institution by being an entrepreneur. He hasn’t lost those skills, using them to turn his contacts and fundraising experience into $325 million in gifts and pledges without a formal campaign. He has catapulted the university to several consecutive No. 1 rankings, and dozens of academic, experiential learning and student support initiatives have been launched under his tenure.

HPU has experienced explosive growth since Qubein’s arrival in 2005. Enrollment has more than tripled along with the campus footprint, and there are 90 more buildings on campus, with more on the way. It has added five academic schools — Nido R. Qubein School of Communication, Congdon School of Health Sciences, School of Art and Design, Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy and a new Undergraduate Sciences School. There are new masters and doctoral programs and heavy investments in state-of-the-art technology and faculty experts for all its schools.

HPU’s growth is being noticed. U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” named it the No. 1 Regional College in the South in 2018, the sixth consecutive year it earned the title. The publication also recognized it as the No. 1 Most Innovative Regional College in the South for improvements in terms of curriculum, faculty, students, campus life, technology and facilities. In addition, the Princeton Review selected HPU for the 2018 edition of “The Best 382 Colleges” in the nation, as well as Best Career Services (No. 19), Best-Run Colleges (No. 20), Best College Dorm Rooms

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(No. 7), a Great School for Communication Majors and a Great School for Business/Finance Majors.

HPU begins preparing students for success as soon as they step foot on campus. It starts with “The President’s Seminar on Life Skills,” a course Qubein teaches freshmen. It continues with The Center for Student Success, which instills each student with what the university calls a growth mindset. “Students are mentored from the day they walk into the university,” says Stephanie Crofton, vice president for experiential learning and career development at HPU. “On day one, they are assigned a success coach, and that success coach stays with them through freshman year, sometimes into sophomore year, until they transition to a faculty adviser when they declare a major. They are mentored by the faculty in the classroom and by the Office of Career and Professional Development.”

More than 95% of students from the Class of 2015 and Class of 2016 were placed in jobs or graduate school within six months of graduation. That’s 13% higher than the national average.

A focus on life skills

HPU is only one of about 50 of the country’s approximately 4,500 colleges and universities that offer a professional selling program. “Students who go through the sales program at HPU are not only well educated, like every student at the university is, they have an enduring life skill. That is to overcome their fear of encountering a strange person when the stakes are high and make an impression that differentiates them from the competition. In this case, it’s to land their first job. But maybe down the road, it’s selling a $6 million MRI machine for GE.” Quinn and his instructors first help each student discover themselves. “We spend the first third of a semester helping

Photography byHigh Point University

Perhaps the department that best exemplifies HPU’s approach is the Professional Selling Program. Its director is Larry Quinn, assistant professor of marketing, chairman of the university’s Department of Marketing and a career sales professional who has worked for several large companies, including Xerox Corp. The program is open to students in all disciplines and offers a degree. Students also can earn a minor in sales. “[That] means in addition to a great education, whatever your major is, you can add a minor in professional sales and get a great job when you graduate,” he says.

Quinn has been at HPU for six years, leading the Professional Selling Program and its stable of senior sales executives turned instructors since 2014. “By hiring non-Ph.D.s, we’re focused on the students and their job, not our research. We have no tenure to chase, no other career to notch. Our priority is the student and their professional success and personal significance.”

Dr. Nido Qubein, who is HPU’s president, a serial entrepreneur and a consultant to CEOs, teaches the President’s Life Skills Seminar for freshmen. Topics in the class include fiscal literacy, problem solving, coachability and more.

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students answer the question: Tell me a little about yourself,” he says. “And we get them to do it in two minutes. It’s succinct. It’s powerful. And you keep it for the rest of your life.”

The Professional Selling Program is housed in Cottrell Hall, a $22 million building that opened in fall 2015. It’s home to Harris Sales Education Center, named in honor of the family who founded Furnitureland South. Quinn designed its interior, which includes labs for role playing sales scenarios and spaces that replicate a senior executive’s office. They’re where students practice sales presentations with faculty and peers during the course of their studies.

Students also practice at HPU’s on-campus fine-dining restaurant, 1924 Prime, where they master conducting themselves at business dinners. “We work on self-confidence and life skills,” Quinn says. “We teach relationship building and leadership skills.”

Professional Selling Program graduates are in demand.

“The second year of the program, a representative from GE’s health care division came to see us,” Quinn says. “They only hire seven people a year. They took one of our graduates home with them, and she rose to the top of the sales chart. Now they come every year and take two or three of our graduates home with them. And you can’t get that at Harvard [University].”

Quinn believes companies can save as much as $200,000 in training expense over 18 months by hiring one of his graduates, who are ready to hit the ground running. “They like winning. All you have to do is give them the product knowledge. They have the self-confidence, skills and determination.”

consultant. And Phil Watson was a television business reporter in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

The Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy is one of HPU’s newest schools. The school has 133 students, and the first class will graduate in 2020. Ron Ragan is its dean. “When I came here five years ago, the school of pharmacy was a concept,” he says. “It wasn’t even a plan yet. It was my job to develop that plan.” One-third of the curriculum is experiential. “Our students are out in pharmacies learning how to practice under the guidance of clinicians, and they start this in their very first year of pharmacy school. Their entire fourth year is in practice sites and experiential learning. We commit a tremendous amount of capital in securing those sites and having relationships in really quality practice sites.”

Qubein earned his success as an entrepreneur before joining HPU, so it’s fitting that entrepreneurship is injected into HPU courses. “We really try in the classroom to instill the entrepreneurial mindset,” Crofton says. “Most students think of entrepreneurship as owning their own business or working for a small business. But there is intrapreneurship,

Powerful blend of expert faculty and real-world practitioners Real-world experience is emphasized everywhere at HPU. Nido R. Qubein School of Communication’s professors share their experiences with their students. Charisse McGhee-Lazarou is a former vice president of prime-time programming at New York-based NBCUniversal Media LLC. Joe Michaels spent 23 years directing NBC’s “Today.” Brandon Lenoir was a Washington, D.C. lobbyist and political-campaign manager and

Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak serves as HPU’s Innovator in Residence. He works with students in a wide variety of majors, including exercise science, pharmacy, computer science, education and others. He is also mentoring computer science students as they build a self-driving vehicle.

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The anatomy lab is a state-of-the-art facility for HPU students to study innovative medical practices and procedures. With an oncampus Willed Body Program and faculty and staff with advanced anatomy and mortuary experience, this learning environment ensures students are prepared with the best skill sets for their chosen profession.

where companies want people who still want to work for a large corporation but still have a creative and imaginative mind, to think of new ways to improve processes. It’s something everyone can use.”

The Belk Entrepreneurship Center is where students learn to create business plans and pitch startups to investors. They also meet with business owners and innovators to sound out ideas, often establishing a mentor in the process. And they can be awarded funds for their startups.

Entrepreneurism is encouraged in health-science studies, too. “If we have an idea and it’s a solvent idea, we find a way to make it happen instead of finding excuses not to do it,” Ragan says. “I hear it from my colleagues across the nation. They are in environments in which they find ways not to make things happen. But this is an exciting environment to be in as an academic. Our president lives that and he encourages us to live that and to help our students find a way to live that.”

“I can honestly say that I would not be who I am today, nor where I am today, without my experiences at High Point University, and that’s

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something I take pride in.”

John Marsicano Class of 2015 Public Relations Specialist at Magnolia in Waco, Texas

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The Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy offers expansive research labs and simulated clinical space to prepare students for a variety of career paths in the industry.

Access to innovators HPU students meet some of the country’s top innovators, including Steve Wozniak, who along with Steve Jobs, helped start technology giant Apple Inc. Wozniak is the university’s Innovator in Residence and visits campus frequently to collaborate and advise students. “I talk about HPU everywhere I go. Their focus on student development is second to none. And their leadership is dedicated to the personal and professional development of students. How they deliver it is truly innovative.” Mandy Engleman, an entrepreneurship major who has a website and writes a blog, says, “I love how Steve Wozniak said that when you find the right thing, the opportunities are endless and you never know where that passion is going to take you.”

Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter Inc., and Marc Randolph, cofounder of Netflix Inc., are two more innovators whose campus visits were greeted by an auditorium packed with students eager to learn what made them successful and what they’ll need to do to be successful in the current business climate. “The world has conditioned us to wait for opportunity,” Stone says. “But you can create a set of circumstances on your own. If you make the opportunity, you will be first in position to take advantage of it. We don’t have to wait for it. We create it.”

Now Randolph serves as the university’s Entrepreneur in Residence. “The opportunity to learn from some of the world’s most brilliant minds is invaluable,” Marsicano says. “It’s one thing to listen to or read about success at the highest level, but to actually engage with those visionaries and connect on a personal level is mind-blowing. High Point is committed to providing those opportunities to students at all levels, and that’s something you truly have to experience to believe.”

Academics and experiential learning aren’t the only ingredients of a well-rounded education. More than 100,000 hours of community service are logged annually by students, faculty and staff.

“Campus-wide, the commitment to service is unique,” Ragan says.

“It’s easy for us to instill in our students the importance of giving back to the community. We have a number of our faculty and our students who participate in clinics for underserved areas of High Point. Instead of waiting for people who need help to come to us, we go to some of these areas of town and set up booths and talk to people about their health care problems. The spirit of community service is pervasive in our campus.”

HPU isn’t slowing down. Congdon Hall, home to the Congdon School of Health Sciences and the Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy, recently opened. It is the largest single investment — $120 million — in HPU’s history. Inside there is 224,000

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square feet of research, lab, learning and interactive space. A $60 million undergraduate sciences building is under construction and will house biology, chemistry, physics and other majors. A 150,000-square-foot residence hall for 310 students has been completed.

The university’s Board of Trustees proposed and unanimously voted to honor Qubein and his wife, First Lady Mariana Qubein, by naming the new basketball and conference facility the Nido & Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center. Construction of the $100 million facility will begin next year. The 4,500-seat center will host the HPU’s men’s and women’s basketball programs, major ceremonial events, speakers, concerts and other large on-campus events. “At High Point University, we are blessed to do what seems impossible, especially during one of the greatest recessions of our time,” Qubein told a recent gathering of city leaders in High Point. “People questioned us. But we knew that when you have faith and when you have courage, anything is possible. And today, our institution is poised for continued success and endless opportunity on the horizon.”

It all paints the picture that student success is the university’s greatest reward, whether for Alex Palmer, the 2013 graduate who is an iOS advanced development senior engineer at Apple in California; Jodi Guglielmi, the 2015 graduate writing for People Magazine in New York City; Harris Walker, the 2011 graduate who is the director of intergovernmental affairs at the National Nuclear Security Administration; or Marsicano at Magnolia. “I can honestly say that I would not be who I am today, nor where I am today, without my experiences at High

Everybody watches Netlfix, but HPU students get to learn from Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix and HPU’s Entrepreneur in Residence.

Point University, and that’s something I take pride in,” Marsicano says. “My time there was about more than just an education. It was about growth, it was about opportunities and it was about surrounding myself with people I admire. And that, right there, is the true catalyst for success.”

Numbers tell the story of High Point University’s growth

Traditional enrollment Full-time faculty Campus size (acres) Square footage Buildings on campus Total positions Economic impact Operating and capital budget United Way giving Study abroad programs

2004-2005

2017-2018

1,450

5,000

245%

108

327

203%

91

440

384%

650,000

3,500,000

438%

22

112

409%

385

1,613

319%

$160.3M

$464.5M

190%

$38M

$290M

663%

$38,000

$240,580

533%

5

64

1,180%

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Increase

RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE High Point University is recognized by students, families, graduates and the nation’s premier experts on higher education for providing high-quality value, curriculum, career and support services, facilities, operations and more. Featured here is a glimpse of the honors bestowed upon HPU. “This recognition reflects the tremendous advocacy we receive from our students and parents, which is what we value most,” says Dr. Nido Qubein, HPU president.

“Our values-based education and focus on life skills is producing graduates who go on to lead lives of significance. Their success is our ultimate reward.”

At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in an inspiring environment with caring people.®

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