Foster College Hosts Off-Campus Recruiting Event

By Lindsay Anderson

Earlier this month, the Foster College of Business hosted an off-campus recruiting event for prospective undergraduate business students and their parents, at Rittal Corporation’s U.S. headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois.

“By taking our visit days on the road, prospective students get a taste of what we do every day for our students: meeting students’ needs inside and outside the classroom,” Associate Dean Jason Garrett said.  “Prospective students easily saw why the Foster College of Business brand of student faculty interaction and experiential learning gives our graduates a distinctive career advantage.”

Kathi Holst ’79, President of RCMS in Naperville, Illinois, current member of the Foster College National Council of Advisors, and a member of Bradley University’s Board of Trustees, was one of the keynote speakers at the event and also served as co-host with her husband, Gregg Holst ’80.

“The event was excellent,” Holst said. “I think the parents liked the idea of meeting at a place of business as a tie into their child’s future opportunity venue. I think the students appreciated meeting people that they could look to as an aspiration, or at least make an example of what may lie ahead for them.”

Undergraduate business students in attendance felt the event made a positive impact.

“I think one highlight of the event was the one-on-one time I got to spend with prospective students,” Accounting 3:2 major Ann Hofmann ’15 said. “I really felt like they had a chance to ask all of their questions in a pressure free environment. Also, meeting Gregg and Kathi Holst was great! They are fantastic representation of what you can do with a Bradley degree.”

“Each of the students and parents I talked to were very impressed by the event as well as the location,” Actuarial Science and Finance double-major Alex DiVerde ’16 said. “I never had the chance to attend an off-campus visit anywhere. It is a very unique experience. Students and parents see what a Bradley education ends up becoming for the student. College is four years long, but your career is so much longer than that. It is important to see what that looks like in the end.”

Various Foster College alumni were also at the event to talk about their undergraduate experiences.

Foster College alumni in attendance included Bryan Samek ’11, a Management and Leadership alumnus with a concentration in Legal Studies, Rob Stanley ’11, a Marketing alumnus with a concentration in Professional Sales, Bailey Miller ’13, a Marketing and Management and Leadership alumna, and Jackie Gove ’11, an Accounting 3:2 alumna.

“We were proud to have our current students and recent graduates tell their stories on how the Foster College impacted their lives and professional careers,” Foster College Dean Darrell Radson said. “From the close relationship our faculty have with our students, internships, study abroad experiences, and class projects with business clients, our students and graduates stressed the unique aspects of our education experience.”

“We are extremely grateful to our National Council of Advisors for their support in hosting our off-campus events,” Undergraduate Recruiting Coordinator Amy Fairfield Doering remarked. “These visits bring the Foster College of Business closer to prospective students. When the current students and alumni tell their Foster College of Business stories, it demonstrates what supportive faculty, a real consulting project, and internship opportunities can do for one’s career.”