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College Fair at 20 Federal, Series of Events Planned
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A college fair held Thursday at 20 Federal Place is the first in a series of events planned for the city-owned building, says its manager, Sean McKinney, the city's building and grounds commissioner.
Some 20 exhibitors had displays at the event, including Youngstown State University, Kent State University Trumbull Campus, Penn State Shenango, Walsh College’s Canfield Campus and Eastern Gateway Community College.
McKinney said his office has received several phone calls asking whether such an event had been considered for the building. “People want to grow. They want to find jobs. They want to advance in education,” he said.
The event provided a good opportunity for Penn State Shenango, Sharon, Pa., said admissions counselor Megan Villers. The campus offers in-state tuition rates to residents of Mahoning and Trumbull counties, she said.
“We’ve been working to expand [enrollment from Mahoning and Trumbull counties] a bit more,” she said. “Obviously our greatest population is going to come from Mercer and Lawrence counties but we have a lot of great programs that Ohio students particularly have an interest in.” Those include physical therapy and administration of justice, and occupational therapy is being added this fall. “We wanted to get the word out to Ohio students that they have the opportunity to come to a campus ess than half an hour away.”
McKinney anticipates staging another college fair in the fall. In addition, a business and consumer expo is planned for next month and a health expo is planned for August, he said. Ohio State University, the University of Toledo and the University of Akron have already expressed interest in participating in the next college fair, he reported.
Thursday’s event also provided an opportunity for one of 20 Federal’s major tenant, VXI Global Solutions, to add to its workforce. VXI, which occupies the fourth and fifth floors of the building and a portion of the second floor, needs to add 200 employees to its inbound call center over the next three months, said recruiter Jolene Kelson.
“We have a great sales staff and they’ve created a lot of new opportunities for us to bring to the Youngstown area because we have a good workforce here,” she remarked. The call center employs more than 700 workers.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.