VIRGINIANS OF INTEREST
Carthan and Brian have been friends for more than 30 years and share a passion for all things Virginia! They lost touch for many years, but reconnected in 2020 while Carthan was involved with the Economic Development Office for the City of Petersburg and Brian was working on the Medicines for All Project at Virginia Commonwealth University. Both talked frequently about various issues facing the Commonwealth and started kicking around the idea of a podcast. Both Carthan and Brian consider themselves a bit technically challenged, so when the opportunity to host a podcast at Blue Ridge PBS in Roanoke presented itself, they jumped in with both feet!
We hope you enjoy the conversations!
VIRGINIANS OF INTEREST
How Virginia State University Connects Students With Industry
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Most colleges tell students to “network.” Virginia State University builds the network into the learning itself. We’re joined by Jonathan Young, Director of Corporate Relations at VSU, who describes his job in one word: matchmaking. He connects industry relationships to student opportunity, then turns those connections into repeated, real conversations that sharpen how students speak, think, and show up professionally.
Jonathan walks us through VSU’s experiential education approach, including hosting hundreds of companies in the classroom not for lectures, but for coaching and direct interaction. We dig into the three outcomes he prioritizes: stronger soft skills, clearer career awareness, and real-world skills that translate to internships and entry-level roles. Along the way, we talk candidly about what’s broken in education when “chalk talk” is the default and students aren’t shown where the end zone really is.
We also get specific about who VSU serves. With a significant first-generation college student population and many students from modest backgrounds, career readiness can’t be vague or optional. Jonathan shares how VSU attracts students from across Virginia and beyond, from Brooklyn and Chicago to Las Vegas, plus students from West Africa and the Caribbean. We even tee up the backstory behind the MacKenzie Scott gift as the conversation heads into a new chapter.
If you care about higher education reform, workforce development, HBCUs, and the future of work in an AI era, this conversation delivers practical insight and a fresh perspective. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the biggest change you’d make to how college prepares students for careers.
Studio Welcome And Introductions
SPEAKER_00And now, from the Blue Ridge PBS Studios in Roanoke, Virginia, it's the Virginians of Interest Podcast with your hosts, Brian Campbell and Carthen Curran.
SPEAKER_03Hello, and welcome to the Virginians of Interest Podcast. My name is Brian Campbell. I'm here with my friend Carthen Curran, who will introduce a special guest.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Brian. We are delighted to have with us today Jonathan Young, who happens to be an old friend of mine who is currently with has been for many years with Virginia State University. Welcome, Jonathan.
SPEAKER_01Carthen, thank you. And Brian, terrific to see you too, my friend. Thank you.
Jonathan Young’s Richmond Roots
SPEAKER_02Give us a little background, Jonathan, on where you grew up, where you're from, and then we'll get into your your your role at uh VSU and also the history of the university.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you, Carthen. Yeah, St. Mary's baby, born, raised, lived my entire life right here in Richmond, the city. Uh spent four years undergrad down at William Mary, four very special years, then came back to town to go to grad school at Virginia Commonwealth and um and have never departed. No really interest in uh in living anywhere else. I love um I love Virginia and the city of Richmond to uh to my core, even in the the bad days uh uh that we can all recall. I was still champing, advocating for uh for the city when I think few few others were. But uh yeah, spent uh spent a lot of time in politics, uh staffed in the office of the governor, ran for office, um uh did did that for uh for a long time, running political campaigns, uh uh uh ran for office, served myself, and uh for the last uh almost two decades been at Virginia State University and uh thoroughly thoroughly enjoy my experience there, partnering with some very special young people to uh to make extraordinary things happen.
Corporate Relations And Experiential Learning
SPEAKER_03Tell us a little bit about your job at VSU, and then we'll break into some other stuff. But tell us what what your title is and how you would describe what it is that you do for VC.
SPEAKER_02And also I would like to how how that how did that path start? Uh you're VSU.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh well, the truth the truth is in in 2007, went down to VSU and uh and the gentleman that I interviewed for, he was uh he's since retired, but our then our chief operating officer, and he looked at me and said, Why are you why are you coming here? And uh and uh I retorted in the only way that I knew how, which was to be honest and authentic, and I said, I wanted to go somewhere where I could go all in and uh and truly take ownership. I'm an INTJ, and so uh if you know anything about uh us, we're um we uh we're we're we're entrepreneurs in everything that we do. And um and so director of corporate relations at Virginia State University, it's um opportunity for me to to uh to really matchmake. If um if in a in a word or two, uh how would I describe my job? It's to leverage my relationships with uh with with persons in industry, industry for the benefit of our students. So uh, for example, in a semester of yours truly, we'll host over 250 companies in the classroom, uh, but not to not to stand in front of the room to to lecture, to give a presentation, but instead to uh to interface in a really intimate way with with young professionals. Uh and the objective really in everything that I do, whether it's uh talent acquisition or marketing or or taking students off campus uh to mix it up with persons in industry, I'll be doing that in in just an hour from now. Um my objectives are threefold. It's one to refine our students' soft skills or interpersonal skills, two, to augment their career awareness, and then three, to develop their real real world skills. Uh gentlemen, I probably don't need to tell either of you that uh this generation, uh, God bless them, uh the Z, uh they have a lot of headwinds uh against them. Um it's uh I'm particularly concerned uh because of what, for example, artificial intelligence is is already materializing in um uh as it relates to, for example, job displacement for young people, for persons just starting their career right out of school. Anyhow, that's probably a subject for another day. But my point is to say that um I truly, truly believe to my core that uh someone who lived about 2,500 years ago on the other other side of the planet, Confucius said it this way, said, I hear and I forget, I see, I remember, I experience and I understand.
SPEAKER_02Uh Jonathan, uh so you grew up in Richmond, uh and that's yeah, yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, St. Mary's baby. In fact, on the campaign trail at somebody at his door, I think I even met the nurse, uh, she retired, of course, but uh who delivered me. Uh that's uh the benefit of Richmond. Uh, you know, it's uh I've always said it's um it's a large enough town, but not not too large. Um and while you never talk bad about anybody because you surely uh you'll surely uh bump into somebody who's friends with them. Uh yeah, I'm a Richmond boy through and through. Uh grew up in the city, lived my whole life here, excluded four years, down in Williamsburg for undergrad. Uh came back to grad school at Virginia Commonwealth University, uh, worked in politics for a long time, uh staffed from the office of the governor, uh ran political campaigns, ran for office, served myself, and for the last two decades been down at Virginia State University uh and uh thoroughly enjoyed every every moment of it.
SPEAKER_03Tell us your title at Virginia State and what it is that you do at Virginia State.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you, Brian. Director of corporate relations, and in a few words or or less, my objective is to matchmake. Uh I believe in experiential education, and uh and everything that I do pertains to three objectives. One is to refine our students' soft skills or interpersonal skills, two, to augment their career awareness so that they're more savvy consumers, relevant to all the kind of career opportunities out there. And then three, to develop real world skills. So, how do we do that? Well, for example, uh yours truly, uh, this semester we'll host over 300 companies in the classroom to coach, to facilitate. Uh, I really take hold to a uh quote that uh somebody a lot smart smarter than me uh 2,500 years ago said, um, halfway across the planet, specifically Confucius, when he said that I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I experience and I understand. Uh so part of uh what we're doing at Virginia State University that uh that candily is a radical departure from other education models is to afford our students access to hundreds of persons representative of all kinds of careers. And in doing that, our objective is to afford them a kind of education that comports with uh what that uh what that wise scholar and and philosopher said 2,500 years ago.
Why Education Feels Broken
SPEAKER_01Uh my my personal opinion on this subject is that uh the education in in Virginia is broken. Uh and that's uh that's not limited to K-12 and or higher education. Too much of uh what we're doing is uh chalk talk. It's somebody standing in front of a room, it's lecturing, it's uh it's not meaning this the students, i.e. the customer where they're at. Um and it's all nonsense. And uh and candidly, um you need not look at any um anything more than some of our uh some of our score data. Um it's uh it's trash if you compare us vis-a-vis the rest of the industrialized world. Um we've gear trailing nearly everyone uh as it pertains to uh as it pertains to critical thinking, math, science, uh writing, uh reading. Uh so you know how do you um how do you flip the script on that? It's to um allow people to see uh my my my opinion is it's allow allow folks to see how to score a touchdown, right? Um I share with my students all the time that if you don't know where the end line is, you probably are not you're probably not gonna get in the end zone, right? And too infrequently do we uh as educators um do an adequate job of articulating uh what they're doing in the classroom and how it connects to uh what their objectives in life pertain to.
What VSU Does Differently
SPEAKER_02As a follow-up, Jonathan, can you can you tell us what what your what is Virginia State doing differently that perhaps other institutions of Virginia aren't doing? And and I would say uh the vast majority of your incoming class would be first generation. Is that a fair statement, college?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's right. Uh so uh b both of you gentlemen know that we were founded in 1882, or a historically black college and university in southern southern Chesterfield County, Etric specifically on the Appomattox River. And uh about 70% of our students are Virginians. They come from right here in the Commonwealth, uh, and a significant percentage right here in 804, uh central Virginia. Uh so on average, uh on average, a little over four out of ten of those students are first generation. They're first in immediate family to attend college. A significant percentage of those students are originating from uh from households, very uh very modest um socioeconomic background. And um and so what are we doing differently? Uh I can tell you a reference that the top of the hour, I went to one of the most elite institutions, if I may brag, on the alma mater, uh in the world. Um William and Mary, 1693. Um I can't say enough complimentary things about um where I went to school, but the truth is the culture at Virginia State University and William Mary are radically different in this way. Uh
Recruiting Beyond Virginia
SPEAKER_01when I participated in uh recruiting events in in New York City specifically, and uh when you meet people, they tell you, oh yeah, we know about Virginia State University. My cousin went there, or uh my my my aunt or uncle. And so uh it's um it's something that a few years ago, to be honest, uh yours truly was a little concern was a little concerned about, only because uh the New York State legislature adopted some uh new laws that incentivize New York State students in a big way to stay home. Uh, but uh we've been able to continue to bring people down here. And uh and I I I really I uh I say in I guess a little just one in ten, but it's it's darn close to that, I think, or from just from uh the borough of uh of Brooklyn.
SPEAKER_02That's fine. In fact, I was at a dinner at your beautiful convocation center several months ago. It was for the Russell Solomon uh dinner, which is a Brunswick County organization. Anyway, there were some students there, and the two that were at my table from both were from uh Brooklyn. Which I'm like Brooklyn.
SPEAKER_01That that's uh uh I I wish uh I wish I had a nickel for uh for every uh my students in the last two decade two decades who uh think the world of and uh that are from Brooklyn, indeed. Um I uh we have uh a lot of very, very special people from uh from Virginia and um a lot of uh extraordinary superstars too from uh from New York and New Jersey and and Maryland, but also uh other places that you probably wouldn't would be surprised by. For example, we have a pipeline from Chicago. We have a a I wouldn't describe it a pipeline, but we regularly benefit from students from Las Vegas. I just met a young person who gets ready to start in uh in a couple of weeks from uh from um from Sin City. So yeah, we um we we got students uh like you would guess from the obvious spots, but also from from all around the country, but also from all around the world. We have a lot of students from West Africa, a lot of folks from the Caribbean. Uh so um it's um Virginia State University has a has a lot of diversity as it relates to place of origin and where folks are coming from.
SPEAKER_02Well, the next time you do a uh travel trip to Brooklyn, let Brian and I know we could we'd love to wait for that.
SPEAKER_03I try to really well. Yeah.
MacKenzie Scott Gift Teaser
SPEAKER_02Uh real quick, a little backstory on the Mackenzie Scott gift. What how did that how how did that develop? What's the backstory on how it developed? I mean, did she just call one day? If you're at liberty to say. If you're at liberty to say, right, right.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I I think I'm at liberty to say because
