Domke-Damonte named new director of CCU Wall Fellows program
Conceived in 1995 by the late E. Craig Wall Jr., a prominent South Carolina businessman and CCU supporter, the Wall Fellows program is designed to prepare top students for high-level careers in major U.S. and international corporations and organizations.
“While the Wall Fellows program has been a tremendous success in its first nine years, it is important that we advance the legacy of the Wall family by expanding the program to be the cornerstone that links Coastal students in the Wall College of Business with top national and global businesses. With her international business skills, Dr. Domke-Damonte will take us to the next level,” said David DeCenzo, dean of the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration.
An associate professor of management, Domke-Damonte serves as international programs liaison for the Wall College of Business. She has been instrumental in establishing exchange programs with universities abroad, particularly in Germany. She is conversant in six languages and she has also worked in Central and Western Europe, Ecuador and Russia.
Domke-Damonte, who joined the Coastal faculty in 1998, chairs the university scholarship committee, and has served as faculty adviser to Coastal’s Society for the Advancement of Management (SAM) club. She was presented the Student Affairs Division Award in 2003 and was nominated for the distinguished teacher of the year award in 2002. She earned a Ph.D. from Florida State University, a master’s degree in international business from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor’s degree from the American University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a double major in Russian/USSR Area Studies and German/communications media.
Students are chosen for the Wall Fellows program through a rigorous application process in the second semester of their sophomore year. The two-year program includes a three credit hour per semester course that covers specific nontraditional areas including interpersonal and communications skills, ethics, personal health and appearance, business and social etiquette, foreign languages and cultural skills. The course prepares the students for the highlight of the program: a series of internships and international experiences during their senior year. This marks the second year that students from the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts have been included in the traditionally exclusive business program piloted by the business college.
A record number of 24 Wall Fellows interned at corporations in the U.S. and Europe during the summer of 2004. The students worked for three months at a variety of major companies and organizations, including Citigroup divisional headquarters in New York, London and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Bayer GmBH in Leverkusen and Sankt Augustin, Germany; Schott Glass International world headquarters in Mainz, Germany; Rolls-Royce in Indianapolis; the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C.; European Communications Consultants in Brussels; Kemin Pharma in Antwerp, Belgium; TPC in Connecticut; and the Atlanta Symphony. Local internships were provided by Golf Holiday, Partners and the Waccamaw Community Foundation.