The Hume Center
One workforce development program at Virginia Tech sets students up for success after college.
By: Phoebe McLaughlin
November 11, 2021
Blacksburg, Va., November 9 – The Hume Center: A giant logo is on the wall in the Hume Center to let visitors know where they are.
Photo: Phoebe McLaughlin
Colleges today offer many ways, such as job or career fairs, for students to find a job or do some networking with future employers. Some students may even walk out of a job fair with a job locked down, but they may not always be prepared for what a real career requires.
The Hume Center for National Security and Technology was created to give students a way to prepare for careers after college by offering research opportunities, mentorships, and educational programs.
Gaining experience is an important part in a student’s career path and the Hume Center aims to give students experiences that will prepare them specifically for career in national security.
According to Parental Guidance by the Careers Writers Association, “From one hundred of the UKs best known and most successful employers, around 40% warned that graduates who have had no previous work experience at all, have little chance of receiving a job offer for their graduate programs.”
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Of the 800 or so students that are involved with the Hume Center, about 400 of them participate in seminars that are given by guest speakers with real world experience.
“They come down and talk to students to try to get them interested in some of the exciting problems that the government is trying to solve in national security,” Ehren Hill, the associate director for education and outreach at the Hume Center, said.
One well accredited speaker, Kenneth L. Stiles, worked for the CIA for 29 years before coming to Virginia Tech to be a professor and work with the Hume Center.
Stiles explained that his teachings provide students with an understanding of how intelligence communities work so that they can understand how their research fits in with other careers.
Along with the seminars, students have the chance to do hands-on research and participate in mentor or fellowships.
A senior at Virginia Tech, Casey Latoski, participates in the Raytheon Fellowship Cohort which has team members tackle a real world systematic problem.
These statistics show how workforce development and training programs benefit those in the workplace.