Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, or SRNS, has announced it has entered a memorandum of understanding agreement with Paine College to provide support and professional training.
“This MOU will provide additional academic and professional resources for our students as we continually strive for academic excellence, ethical and spiritual values, social responsibility and personal development to prepare spiritually-centered men and women for positions of leadership and service,” said Paine College president Dr. Cheryl Evans.
The recent agreement, announced Thursday, entails monetary contributions, internship opportunities and professional development. Counseling in resume writing, job interviews and personal branding will also be afforded to Paine students.
Academic programs are one factor in which internships are targeted to given schools. Students in STEM-based fields at The Citadel in South Carolina, which has also recently entered into an agreement with SRNS, will likely focus on engineering and supply chain management.
Anitra McManus of SRNS Work Services notes Paine College’s robust accounting curriculum as attracting a greater focus on project controls for its prospective interns.
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“Project controls is all about being able to manage the project, from inception to completion,” McManus said. “We need individuals that have that accounting background, that know how to crunch numbers and know how to keep up with budgets, to keep us on track while we are trying to fulfill those current missions.”
SRNS, led by Texas-based engineering company Fluor to manage operations under contract at Savannah River Site in Aiken, has developed similar relationships with historically Black colleges and universities—or HBCUs—in the region, including South Carolina State University and Claflin University, since fall of 2020.
Since then, SRNS has hired more than 40 graduates from HBCUs in South Carolina, and hosted 14 interns. Paine College is the ninth HBCU the company has partnered with.
“Dr. Sean Alfred, executive vice president, he has been very instrumental in in spearheading this, this project, and also this program,” said McManus.
Along with potentially increasing a qualified young workforce, SRNS benefits from its support of HBCU students by presenting opportunities to “change lives for generations to come” said McManus, noting her own beginnings as a native of rural Edgefield County.
“We’re not only working in a community, but we’re also serving the community that we work in,” she said. “It’s a wonderful thing when you grow up in a community, and then you are hiring people from that community.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
