The Lundy-Fetterman School of Business received a $1 million gift from the BB&T Charitable Fund to support its recently launched Business Fellows program, a selective four-year cohort designed to provide academic, service and professional development opportunities to exceptional incoming freshmen.
The newly named BB&T Business Fellows program aims to provide 20 new students a year (80 in all after the first three years) with a unique opportunity to build skills in leadership, critical thinking and problem solving to prepare them for success both personally and professionally.
“The BB&T Business Fellows program will be integral in our efforts to recruit and retain many of our best and brightest students in the School of Business,” Dean Kevin O’Mara said. “Our BB&T Fellows will be marked for excellence from Day 1 and will mature through the four-year program designed to prepare them for future roles of leadership in business. Excellence and leadership are core values at BB&T, without question. We are grateful for their generosity and excited for this partnership.”
Students in the program receive an enriched academic experience, in addition to an endowed scholarship and engagement opportunities with faculty and fellow students in various activities outside of the classroom.
During their four years, the students will be involved in leadership retreats, courses specifically designed for the Fellows cohort, an immersive group trip, research opportunities, reading groups and discussion colloquiums, individualized four-year development plans, a spring service opportunity, alumni networking and internship and career preparation.
Program Director and Associate Professor of Economics Mark Steckbeck has implemented reading groups into the program — the students are currently reading “Creativity, Inc.” by Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios — and has made clear to his students the importance of collaboration during their educational experience.
“We’re trying to encourage collaboration when it comes to generating new ideas and becoming better leaders,” Steckbeck said. “Another important lesson is staying true to your values. You can change your ideas, but you can never waiver on your values. They must be strong, and they must be consistent.”
Gray Reed, BB&T Corporation’s Triangle region president, commended the School of Business’ program and the mission of both the school and Campbell University.
“We really appreciate our association with Campbell,” Reed said. “The mission [Campbell] is fulfilling for students from North Carolina — who are near and dear to our hearts — and for students from beyond the borders of North Carolina and the United States is incredible. We look forward to supporting this program that you’ve laid out.”
“BB&T has a history of generous contributions that have helped make Campbell University the private school of choice in North Carolina,” Campbell President J. Bradley Creed added. “This wonderful gift for our BB&T Business Fellows program will provide opportunities for future students that they simply won’t experience anywhere else. It will go a long way in building future leaders who will make our University and our state a better place. We are grateful for our partnership with BB&T and hopeful that this relationship will continue to benefit generations to come.”
About Campbell Business
The Campbell University Lundy-Fetterman School of Business strives to be recognized as a premier business school known for its free enterprise based curriculum, distinctive academic programs, practical work experiences, and values-based entrepreneurial emphasis. For more information, visit business.campbell.edu/