FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jazmyn Burton
Spelman College
(404) 798-5212
jburton8@spelman.edu
Twitter: @SpelmanMedia
ATLANTA (September 22, 2020) Spelman is pleased to announce a new partnership with Carrier, a leading global provider of healthy, safe and sustainable building and cold chain solutions, to create one-of-a-kind programs to help its students develop skills of the future.
Carrier’s multi-year commitment will provide Spelman students mentorship, development and leadership opportunities in preparation for careers with the company. The partnership also includes sponsorship of the forthcoming Spelman Virtual Career Center.
“At Carrier, we’re committed to building the best teams and this starts with diversity of talent and ideas. We are proud to work with Spelman College, a leader in the education of Black women. The programs that we’re creating together will provide impactful student experiences and build a strong pipeline of talent for our organization,” said Dave Gitlin, president and CEO of Carrier. “This partnership is more than financial support. At Carrier, we’re leaning in, investing in developing diverse leaders and developing and recruiting the workforce of the future.”
The five-year commitment will create two flagship programs to prepare Spelman students to enter the workforce. The Carrier Ambassadors Program for Spelman honors students, created in collaboration with the Ethel Waddell Githii Honors Program, is a joint development and mentoring program. As a Carrier Ambassador, students will attend a five-week series of discussions, organized by Michelle Hite, Ph.D., director of the Spelman’s honors program. The series will feature Carrier leaders speaking about their career experiences and different pathways to success. Students in the program will have additional opportunities to meet and network with Carrier professionals throughout the year.
“Carrier’s new commitment to supporting Spelman students couldn’t come at a better time. With the suspension of in-person career fairs, one of the challenges students are facing in our new virtual environment is connecting with potential employers and mentors,” said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman. “We look forward to working with Carrier to help our students identify and pursue their career goals.”
The career assistance includes the second program, Carrier Elevate(S), a leadership, development and mentoring opportunity designed for high-potential juniors seeking careers in engineering, sales, operations, digital and finance. Throughout their junior year, students will participate in Carrier programming, including regular meetings with mentors and opportunities to apply for summer internships and, ultimately, interviews for full-time roles, including for Carrier’s Early Careers and Leadership Development programs.
Also, the company will support the refresh of Spelman’s Virtual Career Center with new content and videos on careers in the HVAC, refrigeration and fire and security industries, as well as links to career opportunities on jobs.Carrier.com. The center, sponsored by Carrier, provides a resource for students to research career opportunities and virtually connect with professionals.
About Spelman College
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a leading liberal arts college widely recognized as the global leader in the education of women of African descent. Located in Atlanta, the College’s picturesque campus is home to 2,100 students. Spelman is the country's leading producer of Black women who complete PhDs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The College’s status is confirmed by U.S. News & World Report, which ranked Spelman No. 54 among all liberal arts colleges, No. 19 for undergraduate teaching, No. 4 for social mobility among liberal arts colleges, and No. 1 for the 14th year among historically Black colleges and universities. The Wall Street Journal ranked the College No. 3, nationally, in terms of student satisfaction. Recent initiatives include a designation by the Department of Defense as a Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM, a Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute, the first endowed queer studies chair at an HBCU, and a program to increase the number of Black women PhDs in economics. New majors have been added, including documentary filmmaking and photography, and partnerships have been established with MIT’s Media Lab, the Broad Institute and the Army Research Lab for artificial intelligence and machine learning. Outstanding alumnae include Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, Starbucks Group President and COO Rosalind Brewer, political leader Stacey Abrams, former Acting Surgeon General and Spelman’s first alumna president Audrey Forbes Manley, actress and producer Latanya Richardson Jackson, global bioinformatics geneticist Janina Jeff and authors Pearl Cleage and Tayari Jones. For more information, visit www.spelman.edu.