
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995                   TAG: 9503310011
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FIRST UNION DONATES MONEY TO VA. TECH

First Union Corp. contributed Wednesday toward plans by Virginia Tech to establish a nationally renowned master of business administration program in financial risk management.

Jane Henderson, spokeswoman for the Charlotte, N.C.-based banking company, said it donated $150,000 to Virginia Tech on Wednesday. It will give another $25,000 per year over the next four years for a total donation of $250,000.

The endowment will be used to supplement the salary that Virginia Tech could pay for a senior professor, allowing it to attract or retain a nationally known professor in the field of risk management.

The professor who occupies the chair will be someone known in academic life or an experienced corporate executive who holds a doctorate.

Nevin Kessler, director of development at Virginia Tech, said the university has been developing an MBA program in financial risk management for five or six years through its Pamplin College of Business.

The university sponsors a center for the study of futures options and markets in Northern Virginia, where experts from government and the financial industry gather to discuss derivatives and similar topics. They consider the developments in the industry and study how to regulate it.

The new professorship and the MBA program, however, will be at the Blacksburg campus, Kessler said. The research and teaching program will lead to an MBA program with a special emphasis on managing financial risk.

Kessler said several professors from the Pamplin College visited First Union executives in Charlotte to discuss the company's problem in finding trained recruits to join its risk management division. When the professors explained Virginia Tech's program, the company was persuaded to donate the money.

Kessler said a national search to fill the professorship will begin soon.

Ben Jenkins, president of Roanoke-based First Union National Bank of Virginia, said the bank gave the endowment because Virginia Tech plays a major role in the vitality of the Roanoke Valley and the state.

by CNB