Bill and Lorraine Miller Help Students Dress for Success

Bill Miller has a lot of great memories from his years as a student at Winston-Salem State University. He also has at least one painful memory from his senior year as a business administration major with a concentration in Accounting.

"I was fortunate to be one of the top business students in my 1983 graduating class," said Miller, now a successful executive with a Chicago-based corporate real estate investment firm. "I had good references and some solid leads as I began looking for a job. What I didn't have was the right business attire to go on a corporate interview, or the money to buy a suit and tie and dress shoes."

Today, Bill Miller and his wife, Lorraine, also a WSSU graduate, are ensuring that at least two seniors will not have that concern as they begin scheduling job interviews. Together they have established the Bill and Lorraine Miller "Dress for Success" Scholarship Fund.

Thanks to this fund, each fall one female student and one male student from the School of Business will be awarded $500 each to purchase business attire for use in interviews. "There are several criteria," said Miller. "They must be high-performing students with demonstrated financial need, and they must be actively participating in interviews through the Office of Career Services."

WSSU is working with selected local retailers that will provide discounts and help the students with their selections.

"Hopefully other alumni will pick up on this idea and provide this kind of advantage for even more WSSU seniors," said Miller. "I know from personal experience how important it can be to a young person's confidence-and we want our students to have every possible advantage as they compete for good jobs."

_________________________________________________________________________________

Bill Miller has also established a fund to provide two need-based scholarships in the amount of $1,250 per semester, applicable for books or tuition for one male business student and one female student with a 3.0 minimum grade point average.