Social Responsibility: How Waynesburg University and Chevron Are Redefining the Relationship Between College and “The Real World” For The Greater Good
For generations, it seemed the role of colleges and universities, relative to “the real world”, was clearly defined.
Be the “feeder system”…..the “pipeline”, as it were.
Students went to college to learn the skills needed to graduate. Then when they graduated, they got jobs in the “real world”.
It was simple. It was basic. It worked, to a reasonable extent.
But over time, both the colleges that produced class after class of students, and the businesses that hired them wondered if it could be done better. If businesses were better able to integrate their actual needs with the foundational academic theory taught in the schools, the students would be more productive from Day One, right? Could there be more real-time interaction between business and university, aside from the token internship program or scholarship grant (which were, to be sure, both good starts)?
How about if the colleges and businesses came together, not only for the benefit of the students and the businesses, but for the greater good?
It should be no surprise by now that one of the most forward-thinking academic institutions in Western Pennsylvania, Waynesburg University, took these questions to heart and put the wheels in motion to act on them.
All they needed was a partner. Enter Chevron
It was a partnership that made too much sense not to happen. So it did. And the Chevron Center For Corporate Social Responsibility was born.
It’s a very exciting development that reflects the logical next step in the union between college and business. On this edition of The Raja Show, Raja takes an inside look at how this partnership came to be, as he welcomes Waynesburg University President Douglas Lee (centerabove), along with Stacey Brodak (left above), the school’s Vice President of Institutional Advancement and University Relations, to the studio to discuss this big news,