In early October, three generations of the Olinde family gathered in LSU’s Memorial Oak Grove so we could capture the spirit behind the naming of the LSU Olinde Career Center. The family’s gift was made possible through the generosity of Humphrey T. “Bubber” Olinde, a 1948 graduate of what is now the LSU E. J. Ourso College of Business.

Bubber came in from nearby New Roads, La., to join more than a dozen of his loved ones—just a fraction of this close-knit family—for a portrait near the LSU Student Union. Sometime during the 2012-13 school year, the Union will become home to the center bearing the Olinde name. Bubber’s support through a $1.5 million gift will have a dramatic impact on LSU Career Services’ ability to serve students and alumni and the employers and graduate/professional schools that recruit on campus.           

Mr. Olinde was looking toward the future with what he can do in the present,” Mary Feduccia, PhD, director of Career Services, said of Bubber’s decision to support LSU through this project.

Feduccia’s team is a one-stop shop for students seeking career-planning guidance. Specialists in career decisions, experiential education, job searching, and employer relations provide one-on-one help to the campus community and LSU alumni. Each year, the office hosts more than one dozen discipline-specific recruiting and networking events for students. The team also welcomes over 1,000 organizations through events and its On-Campus Interviewing Program, spanning nine weeks each semester.

Whereas Career Services is now housed in one location on the outskirts of campus and another in the basement of a Quad building, the new center will be centrally located in the Union.

“This will be the first time we’ll be together as one office in the hub of campus,” says Trey Truitt, associate director for employment services, adding, “It will give us the internal visibility we’ve needed.”

The Olinde Career Center will be outfitted with expanded, private interview rooms; suites that allow for future growth; a workforce development center comprised by an interactive multimedia library; a lounge/business center for visiting recruiters; a global teleconferencing room; and an employer greeter room.

The new, two-level space will also include a suite for the LSU Student Financial Management Center (SFMC), which helps students to create and maintain financially responsible behaviors. With just a few such programs in the country, LSU is ahead of the curve in making the SFMC available to students.

Emily Hester, coordinator in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Life & Enrollment, says, “We are preparing you not just for your experience in college, but for life after college.”

In addition to housing Career Services and the SFMC, The Olinde Career Center’s “smart” classroom will be equipped with audiovisual tools, voice conferencing, LAN connections and wireless Internet access. That space will be made available to student groups, faculty and staff, extending services beyond those who visit the center for career-planning help.

Several companies and individuals have joined the Olinde family as career center partners, through both naming opportunities and individual gifts. Career Services has seen increased interest since its Career Expo moved into the LSU Student Union.

“When we moved into the Union and could show them the space, there was immediate interest,” Truitt says of employers’ reactions to the project.

The forward-thinking nature of The Olinde Career Center suits Bubber’s longstanding commitment to supporting education. He and his family are active in their respective professional communities and generous in their volunteerism and philanthropic giving to the causes they find most meaningful.

“Uncle H.T. has always supported education at LSU and at home in New Roads,” says Henry Olinde Jr. “He wanted to do something that would be permanent. Being an LSU alumnus, he thought giving back to LSU would be a good way to achieve his purpose.”

Bubber’s nephews (including Henry and his brothers Michael and David) and his brothers J.B. and Dr. Henry “Heck” Olinde were actively involved in working with LSU to help Bubber identify a campus project that would enable him to achieve that purpose. Career Services had just formally announced its plans to move into the LSU Student Union—and the support that would be needed to do so—and the new center seemed a perfect fit.

“This lead gift fulfills a philanthropic passion of Bubber Olinde to transform lives for generations of LSU students to reach their goals and dreams through The Olinde Career Center,” says Jamie Segar, director of development for the Division of Student Life & Enrollment.

The Olinde family’s generosity will provide the professional, accessible space and resources the office has needed since its inception almost 30 years ago.

“The center will speak volumes about the value LSU places on career planning services for students,” Feduccia asserts.

The Olinde Career Center will speak volumes, too, about the impact one family can have on the entire LSU community.

For more information on how to contribute to the LSU Olinde Career Center, contact Mary Feduccia at 225-578-2162, or visit careercenter.lsu.edu/olinde-center. 

Photo credit: Andrea Laborde
Story courtesy of the LSU Foundation Cornerstone Magazine.