Mark and Nan Hillis, former members and chairs of the FSU College of Business Board of Governors, said the impetus for their interest in student professional development came in January when one of Mark’s Theta Chi fraternity brothers asked for help in financing a student trip to New York to meet with a group real estate executives. They in turn donated $1,000 to the FSU Real Estate Society.Photo by Kallen Lunt/College of Business

Michael Hartline, dean of the Florida State University College of Business, knows his students’ needs, and he knew he had a supportive audience. So, he got right to the point in late March and asked members of the college Board of Governors to personally help fund an emerging investment priority: student professional development.  

FSU business students reap big benefits from opportunities such as group trips to the nation's economic centers, Hartline explained at the spring Board of Governors meeting. On visits to places such as New York, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C., students meet with company executives, get a better understanding of their industries, find inspiration from a new experience and establish crucial professional connections, he said.

But, he added: Many students lack the money to go.

Former board members and chairs Mark and Nan Hillis, both college alumni Hall of Fame members and retired banking executives, attended the meeting and responded promptly: They gifted $50,000 in April to establish the Mark and Nan Casper Hillis Professional Development Endowment for Excellence in Real Estate. 

They’re also amending previous endowments in finance and real estate to include support for student professional development activities and learning experiences.

The Hillises’ actions underscore the importance and the power of the college’s Board of Governors, which meets twice a year to, among other things, advise college leadership, energize alumni and stimulate financial support for the college and university.

Here is how student professional development emerged as a hot and – with the help of the Hillises – heeded topic during the spring meeting:

A student speaks up

Business student Natalie Faith Timm told Board of Governors members about the importance of group trips to U.S. business centers. "I can’t stress enough that those are the opportunities that we look forward to and learn from the most," she said.

Hartline was discussing the merit of trips that expose business students to corporate headquarters, C-suite executives and business centers throughout country and abroad when student Natalie Faith Timm took the microphone at her table and asked to speak. Timm, a finance and real estate major, attended the meeting as president, at the time, of the college’s Student Leadership Council.

“Those trips make the college experience and what we learn in the classroom so much better,” Timm told Hartline and the board. “They help us decide our career trajectory.”

She added: “I've been fortunate enough to go on a few trips, and they’re so impactful. I can’t stress enough that those are the opportunities that we look forward to and learn from the most.”

Hartline appealed to board members and other donors to fund such trips and other professional development activities in lieu of gifting tuition scholarships. He attributed his request to FSU’s relatively low cost of tuition and generous number of students who receive the state’s Bright Futures scholarship.

“We talk to donors about this all the time,” Hartline told the board. “Scholarships are wonderful, and they change lives. But we're not like a lot of other universities: We don't need a lot of scholarship support because our tuition is so affordable.”

In her comments to the board, Timm emphasized that many students can’t afford the cost of airfare and lodging for trips to cities outside North Florida. 

Making his case

Michael Hartline, dean of the College of Business, says the college has been raising private dollars specifically for professional development opportunities for students. "And we write those gift agreements very broadly so they can be used for a lot of different things, as long as it’s for student professional development," he said.

“It’s a big deal,” Hartline said about funding for student professional development. “We’ve been raising private dollars, some of it expendable, some endowment, specifically for professional development opportunities for students. And we write those gift agreements very broadly so they can be used for a lot of different things, as long as it’s for student professional development.”

During the spring semester, student organizations representing a range of disciplines – including Gamma Iota Sigma, the Financial Management Association, Sigma Phi Epsilon, the American Marketing Association, the Real Estate Society and Noles on Wall Street – organized professional development trips to, for example, Bermuda, Orlando, Virginia, New Orleans and New York City. 

During a trip to New York, students in the James M. Seneff Honors Program met with Barrie Arnold, co-founder of non-alcohol beverage retailer Boisson; visited global consulting firm Kearney; and attended a New York Yankees game with New York-based alumni.

Seneff Scholars get $1,000 a year to spend on trips, certification programs or other types of professional development, Hartline said, courtesy of a $5 million CNL Charitable Foundation gift that helped launch the Seneff Honors program. Likewise, he said, a $10 million gift from Persis and Charles Rockwood to name the Dr. Persis E. Rockwood School of Marketing includes a $1 million endowment for marketing students’ professional development.

But those gifts don’t cover the funding of business students outside those programs and disciplines, and professional development demand continues to grow across the college – prompting college officials to request donations for student professional development during the university’s last two Great Give campaigns.

Board members’ support

Hartline said the college’s risk management and insurance program aims to ramp up student trips to industry hotbeds such as Bermuda and London, and Board of Governors member Donna Abood – who in the fall will begin a two-year term as chair – said the FSU Real Estate Center continues a tradition of sponsoring trips to key industry events. She mentioned her first substantial gift to the college: an endowment that helps send real estate students to key industry events across the country.

The college’s Center for Professional Success could model the FSU Real Estate Center in that regard, Abood said. 

“And then board members who want to get engaged, that might be a good place to fund endowments,” she said.

Brett Lindquist, the outgoing chair of the Board of Governors, told fellow board members that he was “all in” on funding “opportunities that these students never would have had.”

Also during the meeting, Mark Hillis asked Hartline if the college offered a fund that he and his wife could endow specifically for experiential learning. 

David VanLone, the college’s chief development officer, explained that the college aims to make available an endowment that “creates a permanent solution” to funding student professional development.

“That’s the great thing the Rockwood gift did,” VanLone said. “That $1 million gives us $40,000 every year for professional development for marketing students, and that covers a lot of students.” Marketing remains the college’s second-most-popular major.

The Hillises step up

Hartline asked Mark Hillis if he’d like to establish and fund the college’s first endowment for experiential learning. Hillis said yes and that he and his wife also would amend existing finance and real estate endowments to include funding for experiential learning – prompting applause throughout the room.

He said the comments from Hartline, VanLone and others reminded him and his wife “how important it is for students to be able to visit the headquarters of major companies and learn from those experiences.”

“Nan and I are excited to do what we can to help more students participate in these life-changing trips and other professional development activities,” he said. 

The Mark and Nan Casper Hillis Professional Development Endowment for Excellence in Real Estate continues a steady stream of gifts that the Hillises have made to the university since 1988. They’ve now established eight endowments, plus a college professorship in real estate and a gift to Legacy Hall, the college’s future home. Other major gifts have gone to, among other facilities, the Seminole Boosters for the Football Operations Center, the university's Veterans Legacy Complex – a one-of-a-kind facility that will salute and support veteran students – and the FSU Alumni Center.

The Hillises said the impetus for their interest in student professional development came in January when one of Mark’s Theta Chi fraternity brothers asked for help in financing a student trip to New York to meet with a group real estate executives. Mark told Yvonne Baker, executive director of the FSU Real Estate Center, that he wanted to help and donated $1,000 to the FSU Real Estate Society. Among a myriad of roles, the Real Estate Center facilitates student learning experiences beyond the classroom.

The Hillises' giving comes from a desire to help shape the future of FSU students, Nan Hillis said. She also reflects on her past: As she accumulated zero student debt, she watched her friends struggle to make ends meet. 

“I realized what a gift I had from my parents,” she said, referring to money to attend college. “Then as Mark and I progressed in our careers, we realized that we could make a difference. Leaving a legacy of being able to contribute to someone else's success really motivates us.”

-- Pete Reinwald