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- Main Articles Listing:
Norton School
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- 1. On Sale: Highly Trained Retail Grads
- To read the entire story on page 32 of the Fall, 2007 UA Foundation magazine, Advancing Arizona, go to http://www.uafoundation.org/pdf/AdvancingAz.pdf.
By Elena Acoba
Even in this age of online professional networking, face-to-face interaction still plays Melinda Burke, “to build a bridge with our industry partners.” That bridge is quite broad. Representatives of 32 companies sit on the center’s corporate advisory board.
Aside from monetary support, they provide internships, industry tours, conferences and other engagements with students. In turn, they and other corporations can tap into a pool of well-trained, workplace-savvy graduates. Last spring’s grads have joined organizations such as Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, JCPenney and Wal-Mart.
The industry also benefits from faculty and graduate research on customer and consumer behavior, retail strategy and marketing.
The four-story, $24 million McClelland Park under construction at Park Avenue and Fourth Street will allow the John and Doris Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences to intensify its education, recruitment, research and networking
activities in a more centralized, spacious, high-tech facility.
Among other amenities, the new home of the school, under which the center is operated, will have many spaces—conference rooms, an auditorium and the outdoor Lakin Family Plaza—where industry representatives can meet with students.
The current inability to accommodate visiting recruiters and industry partners has become a “missed opportunity” to provide crucial contacts for students, says school Director Soyeon Shim.
More companies are recognizing not only the importance of such retail programs, but also the value that McClelland Park will bring to the discipline.
A recent VIP reception welcoming President Robert Shelton to Manhattan was hosted by Lundgren, a 1974 UA grad and chairman, president and CEO of Macy’s Department Stores Inc. The event raised at least $925,000 for McClelland Park construction. Financial pledges from newly engaged partners, including Tommy Hilfiger, Estée Lauder, Saks Fifth Avenue, Calvin Klein, CitiBank and Walgreens strengthen the bridge that leads retail students from the classroom to the working world.
“Important legacies happen only through continual investment in people and programs,” Lundgren said. “I am quite proud of my alma mater and grateful for the broad education I received while attending college there.” - Updated: November 29, 2007
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