PROVIDENCE – A $20 million donation to Brown University's Center for Career Exploration will help prepare students for opportunities with government agencies, nonprofits and community-based organizations, as well as social ventures and for-profit positions focused on social impact.
The gift was so impactful that the center has been renamed to the Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Career Exploration – in honor of the donors, who themselves are parents of a Brown student.
Jonathan Tisch is a business leader and executive chairman of Loews Hotels, and Lizzie Tisch, has worked in insurance, banking and fashion. Their daughter Mason is member of the Brown University Class of 2025.
“When you have a strong, vibrant alumni base who can offer you guidance, thoughts and insights, you should avail yourself of that – and our goal is that this gift will allow even more connections between soon-to-be graduates, recent graduates and other alumni,” Jonathan Tisch said.
The Center for Career Exploration provides personalized advising, one-on-one mentoring and experiential learning opportunities for students, while expanding the university’s network of campus advisers, alumni, parents and family members who support students in exploring potential careers.
There are five career pathways focused on at the center: technology and tech ventures, finance and consulting, arts and media, sciences and engineering, and careers in the common good. Each pathway is helmed by an assistant dean.
The Tischs’ gift will fund the common good assistant deanship and provide financial support for advising, experiential learning and professional connections around the careers in the common good pathway. The funding includes support for advising, internships and staffing. It will enable the center to deepen its work related to preparation for careers in the common good in sectors that include government, education, community development, human rights and nonprofit organizations. In particular, the gift will support collaborations with the Swearer Center and the SPRINT-iProv Summer Fellowship program, which provides undergraduates a stipend to engage in internships with nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island.
“This gift will enable us to move forward with initiatives that have already shown tremendous progress and impact,” said Matthew Donato, executive director of the center.
“Whatever you decide for your career, you do have a responsibility to others,” Tisch said. “And the earlier we can get these kinds of philosophical thoughts and put them into action in the minds of our future leaders, to me, is very exciting.”
Veer Mudambi is the special projects editor of the Providence Business News. He can be reached mudambi@pbn.com.
