Mr. Charlie McVean sponsors Peer Power Scholars Program at FCBE

For release:  June 7, 2016

Mr. Charlie McVean, the visionary behind the Peer Power program and chairman and CEO of McVean Trading & Investments, has agreed to generously provide assistantships to six full-time MBA students each semester per cohort as a part of his newly-funded Peer Power Scholars Program.

Each of the Peer Power Scholars will be provided an assistantship of $5,000 each semester. The full-time MBA program is a three-semester curriculum; so Mr. McVean's overall commitment will result in hundreds of thousands of dollars given in order to support this program. Additionally, the Fogelman College will provide a tuition waiver to each of the Peer Power Scholars.

The Peer Power Scholars will serve as academic mentors to undergraduate students. The Scholars will be required to tutor undergraduate students for 20 hours per week in subjects such as economics, finance, accounting, quantitative analysis, and more. They will also be responsible for teaching softer-skills, such as time management.

"We are extremely grateful for Mr. Charlie McVean's commitment to the Peer Power Scholars Program," said Dr. Rajiv Grover, dean of the Fogelman College. "Our job as educators is to offer every possible avenue for student success; and this program will allow us the opportunity to better serve our students, both at undergraduate and graduate levels alike, by providing an impactful tutoring and mentoring system. Additionally, the Peer Power Scholars will benefit immensely since the costs associated with earning their degrees will be covered."

The Fogelman College will keep track of the Peer Power Scholars after they graduate in order to gauge the positive impact that they have on the Memphis community. The grand vision is to build the Peer Power Scholars Program into a nationally renowned program.

The creation of the Peer Power Scholars Program is also due very much in part to Mr. Bill Sehnert, director of the Peer Power programs.

The Peer Power Scholars Program is the second phase of Ms. McVean's Peer Power initiative at the Fogelman College. In 2014, Mr. McVean and the Fogelman College partnered to launch the first-ever Peer Power platform at a collegiate level. Since its inception, the Peer Power program at the FCBE has been successful at improving students' academic performances for two reasons. First, many times the students who are struggling simply need extra attention in order to grasp the concepts at hand. The private tutoring sessions with high-achieving students as coaches allow for a tailored learning experience that is not always offered in a large classroom. Second, sometimes students are too embarrassed or intimidated to ask their professors for additional assistance. The Peer Power program helps to eliminate this issue since the sessions are peer-taught and much more relaxed.

We are greatly appreciative of both Mr. McVean's and Mr. Sehnert's support of student learning at the Fogelman College!