At the University of Richmond, students are mentored, challenged, and prepared to flourish throughout their lives and careers. They develop practical and professional skills through internships, summer fellowships, career conferences, client-based projects, and community engagement. Together, these opportunities underscore a defining Richmond advantage: we equip students for what comes next.
Unlocking Possibilities
Where passion meets preparation.
At UR, career preparation takes many forms. From the very first semester, the Career Services team is available to help students pursue their passions while exploring different careers and industries, build the skills they’ll need to succeed in fields of interest, and gain real-world experience through on-demand offerings and programs like the Richmond Guarantee.
Throughout 2025–26, students honed interview and networking skills at career conferences, connected with alumni, practiced mock interviews, refined elevator pitches, and visited employers. They worked with clients to solve problems, launched products, and built the confidence that comes from applied learning.
University of Richmond stands apart as a national leader in career preparation.
Internships are a critical component of career development and that commitment once again earned Richmond a top 10 spot on The Princeton Review’s list of the “Top 20 Best Schools for Internships (Private Schools).”
This is the eighth consecutive year UR has landed in the top 10. Richmond was also ranked No. 8 for “Best Career Services” by the company, which publishes rankings based on surveys of student experiences. Students praised staff for their constant outreach to students and for fostering strong relationships with businesses.
“Internships are essential and provide Spiders with chances to gain experience, refine their sense of direction, and meet accomplished professionals in their fields of choice,” said Damon Yarnell, associate provost and executive director of career development. “When students graduate from the University of Richmond, we don’t want them to settle for just any opportunity. We want them to launch feeling energized and proud.”
From the moment students arrive on campus, they are supported by a comprehensive career development program. Every semester, they can participate in career and graduate school fairs and multi-day career exploration trips to major cities, including New York, Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley. The career team also maintains curated collections of internships by career interest area on the Career Services website.
“All of it is built on a foundation of dedicated funding, personalized support, and a powerful network of alumni, parents, and employers eager to help students succeed,” Yarnell said.
And support doesn’t stop when students walk across the stage at Commencement. Spider alumni can continue leveraging Richmond’s career services after graduation.
AI Readiness
Career Services helps students prepare to navigate careers in the age of AI.
“AI skills and experience with AI projects are very valuable assets right now; they’re among the highest demand and fastest growing qualifications organizations are looking for,” said Yarnell. “We encourage students to list their AI skills on their resumes and social-media profiles alongside other skills, technologies, or projects.”
Richmond’s leadership in this area continues to gain national recognition. In April, Town & Country named UR one of “The 15 Colleges Best Preparing Students for the AI Economy,” highlighting institutions actively preparing students for the future of work.
The magazine noted, “The University of Richmond is approaching artificial intelligence through a distinctly liberal arts lens, emphasizing critical thinking, communication, and ethical inquiry alongside emerging technologies.”
Expert Advice
How to Handle a Job Market That’s Worse Than It Looks
Yarnell is quoted in this careers-focused column examining the job market. He advises students and job seekers to focus on fields and locations with steady growth.
Five Distinct Advantages of Richmond Career Services
- Guaranteed internship and research funding for all traditional undergraduates
- Career development woven throughout students’ educational experiences
- Continuous interrogation of emerging trends in the world of work
- World-class alumni and employer networks for all
- Definitions of success that include purpose, joy, and lifelong growth
Gaining Hands-On Experience
The Richmond Guarantee fuels research and internships across the globe.
Over the summer, students engage meaningfully beyond the classroom, gaining transformative, hands-on experiences as interns, researchers, and community volunteers.
This summer, hundreds of UR students will participate in internships and faculty-mentored research. Thanks to donor support, the Richmond Guarantee ensures every undergraduate student in the School of Arts & Sciences, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, and Robins School of Business is eligible to receive a fellowship of up to $5,300 for an unpaid or underpaid summer internship or faculty-mentored research project.
Last summer, nearly 600 Richmond students participated in transformative fellowship opportunities, supported by $2.5 million in funding. Spiders worked at organizations based in more than 150 cities across almost 30 states and in 32 countries. A few even took on remote experiences.
Whether assisting senators, working at alumni-founded startups, gaining healthcare experience, interning at museums, or spending the summer with a Major League Baseball team, students put their University of Richmond Summer Fellowship (URSF) funding to use in ways as varied as their interests.
“These fellowships allow students to explore their passions, develop skills in areas of interest, and expand their professional networks without having to choose between gaining experience and earning a paycheck,” said Brendan Halligan, senior associate director of experiential learning and assessment, who oversees the URSF program. “The experiences our students have each summer continually inspire me.”
Career Services encourages students to reach out to alumni with a common interest.
“It’s critically important for our students to engage in mentorship,” he said. “We try to teach students to really use the Spider network, which is key to future internships and post-graduate job opportunities.”
Internship opportunity blends art and business.
Karine Nguyen, who graduated earlier this month, gained hands-on experience in the world of corporate art collections while at Richmond.
A triple-major in art history, business administration, and French/international business, Nguyen found a way to merge her academic interests in both art and commerce during her internship with Capital One Arts, where she combined creative engagement with professional rigor.
She supported operations, including exhibition installations, researched missing artworks, updated inventory records, and supported associate engagement initiatives. The internship provided new insights into the art world.
“Before this internship, I had honestly never really considered corporate art collecting as a practice, even though it seems so obvious in hindsight,” she noted. “Learning about art as an alternative asset and investment was an unexpected lesson.”
Spiders partner with individuals, nonprofits, and businesses throughout the region.
Historic Jackson Ward President Janis Allen joined UR students Donovan Murray and Thuba Mnisi, and community member Laurance Wieder to plant trees in downtown Richmond.
Through a summer research collaboration between the University and the Historic Jackson Ward Association, students studied urban heat, tree selection, and the local heritage of one of Richmond’s unique neighborhoods. The project was the perfect combination of scientific learning and cultural storytelling, connecting academics with community engagement.
Following their research, this fall, the students came together with staff, faculty, and community members to plant new trees, each bearing an honorary plaque celebrating Jackson Ward luminaries such as Maggie L. Walker, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and William Washington Browne.
The Jackson Ward project is just one manifestation of the University’s institutional commitments to community engagement and experiential learning. In January, the Carnegie Foundation awarded the University of Richmond the 2026 Community Engagement Classification.
“Across the five schools, our students and faculty connect and collaborate with a wide range of community organizations,” said Sylvia Gale, director of the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement (CCE). “Students volunteer in academic-year and summer internships and conduct numerous research projects that directly impact the region, and 82% of our students in the class of 2025 took at least one community-based learning course during their time at UR.”
Students also applied their skills to make a difference through the Spider Business Hub at the Robins School of Business, law school clinics, and the CCE.
For the 15th consecutive tax season, accounting students became IRS-certified to support this year’s tax assistance program, coordinated by United Way, with a dedicated site hosted by the CCE and the Robins School.
Training included learning about the earned income tax credit, the child tax credit, and the credit for the elderly or the disabled. Families and individuals with an income of $69,000 or less could sign up or walk in to receive assistance.
“These students learn the value of civic engagement, gain experience working with clients, and provide real-world impact,” said Sasha Hollister, assistant director of community relationships and place-based engagement at the CCE.
Meanwhile, the Spider Business Hub matched students with local companies to consult on projects in marketing, finance, and human resources.
“Solo entrepreneurs are our bread and butter,” said Spider Business Hub Director Sara Hanson, associate professor of marketing. “That’s where we offer a ton of value at no charge. The students are doing things that entrepreneurs don’t have time to do or don’t know how to do.”
Mary Beth Henderson and Matthew Fan approached Hanson last year about getting involved. They worked on a marketing and social media project for BP Real Estate, located in Portsmouth, Virginia, and developed a marketing strategy for Eirene Counseling and Consulting, including social media templates and website updates.
“The biggest benefit for me has been to have more face-to-face interactions with clients and strict deadlines for actual deliverables that can impact a company,” said Fan, a business administration major with concentrations in finance and consulting. “It has been helpful with my job and internship search as it has allowed me to gain more applicable, real-world knowledge and learn about situations from an outside perspective.”
“Dr. Hanson puts a lot of trust in us,” said Henderson, who plans to major in business administration. “We have deadlines, but we have room to decide what needs to get done and how to do it.”
Signature programming allows students to explore paths, build confidence, and make connections.
The University offers a growing number of Spider Road Trips to support career exploration and has provided creative-industry visits to New York for over a decade.
About 20 students traveled from Richmond in January to get an inside look at some of New York’s top firms during the Spiders in Creative, Communications, and Marketing Road Trip.
Students attended an alumni reception and behind-the-scenes visits to NBCUniversal, Wieden+Kennedy, The Beauty Co-Lab, 360PR+, the National Basketball Association, and Amazon Ads.
“The highlight of the trip was visiting such a wide variety of companies,” said Bella Rosen, a business administration major. “I’ve always known I wanted a career in marketing, but I had no idea how many different paths you can take with the same degree.”
At a Spiders in the City reception, students were joined by about 150 alumni and 38 students who had come to NYC for another Spider Road Trip focused on Wall Street and the financial sector. Alumni shared stories about navigating their early careers and finding roles that aligned with their interests.
“Alumni shared that they often didn’t know what they would do with their degrees while they were in college,” Rosen said. “I talked to one alum who ended up changing his entire career path because of a random elective course he took. He gave me advice about not being afraid to try new things.”
Closer to home, professional readiness initiatives across the University’s three undergraduate schools are helping students build confidence, expand networks, and prepare for careers through hands-on learning and alumni mentorship.
Students described these experiences as transformative — opportunities to connect classroom learning with real-world challenges while developing practical skills in communication, networking, and interviewing.
Elizabeth Soady, the associate director of professional development for Arts & Sciences, said 97.4% of the 90 students who attended A&S NEXT, a two-day career conference, reported meeting a new alum, faculty member, or community partner whom they would feel comfortable reaching out to for a follow-up.
“The students were reflective, intentional, and really made the most of the experience,” said Soady. “One participant shared that it was one of the best experiences in college so far.”
Addy Gove, who participated as a first-year student, collaborated on a project focused on “fenceline communities” — neighborhoods near polluting industries — reinforced both academic interests and career aspirations.
“I enjoyed the opportunity to dive into a topic I feel passionate about with other students who care in the same way that I do,” Gove said. “I also really enjoyed having the support of alumni and professors working in the field.”
Alumni also play a key role in helping students refine professional skills and gain confidence. Workshops across schools on networking, interviewing, and crafting elevator pitches encourage students to articulate not only what they do, but why it matters.
“We teach students to lead with their ‘why’ so they can differentiate themselves from other candidates,” Jepson School of Leadership Studies alum Kate Materna Rezabek said. “It needs to be tight enough to deliver in an elevator ride, but powerful enough to open a meaningful door.”
Students said opportunities to practice career readiness skills in supportive settings helped ease anxiety around future interviews and professional interactions.
“It was challenging to be interviewed in front of 20 other students,” said Lia Adams, a rising junior in the Robins School of Business, “but this definitely helped remove nerves later during real interviews.”
Across schools, alumni, faculty, and community partners continue returning to campus to mentor students through conferences, workshops, and immersive career experiences designed to help them stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Taking ideas to market.
Richmond students competed in the fifth annual Bench Top Innovations pitch competition this fall, where four teams demoed and pitched canned coffee and tea beverages developed in the classroom.
Bench Top Innovations is a Robins School of Business marketing program open to senior-level undergraduates of all majors. Each year, students spend the fall semester developing a different food product while also creating a compelling brand.
“Bench Top exemplifies what makes the University of Richmond distinctive,” said Mickey Quiñones, dean of the Robins School. “It challenges students to think and act like entrepreneurs, by solving real problems in real time with the support of faculty mentors and industry experts. The experience fosters curiosity, collaboration, and creativity, preparing them to thrive in any career they pursue after graduation.”
Learn more about this year’s course and winning product here.
Exploring the Globe
Richmond again ranks #1 for study abroad participation, and students secure scholarships for travel.
Richmond students enhance their learning journeys all over the world. From study abroad to international fellowships, Spiders really are everywhere.
The University is a leader among peer institutions for study abroad programs. More than 70% of UR students graduate with international experience, and for the third consecutive year, the University ranked first among baccalaureate colleges for the total number of students studying abroad in the Open Doors Report.
“We offer opportunities that align with every student’s academic, personal, and career goals,” said Martha Merritt, dean and Carole M. Weinstein Chair of Global Education. These include research and internship opportunities, traditional semester-long programs, pilgrimages, and the award-winning EnCompass program, which provides support to students who are least likely to have an international experience.
Spider Athletes enjoy a special chance to see the world as a team.
The women’s lacrosse team in the Netherlands.
Studying abroad as a Division I student-athlete can be particularly challenging. Demanding schedules, academic pressure, and financial constraints make it difficult for Spiders to find the time and resources to travel during the school year.
But this past summer, through the power of donor generosity, the Spider men’s and women’s lacrosse teams visited Europe, participating in activities that combined cultural immersion, teambuilding, athletic skill development, and community engagement.
The women’s team began in Amsterdam, exploring the city and attending the Dutch Club Nationals tournament, where they hosted a lacrosse clinic and exhibition game. They coached a youth lacrosse club and hosted physical education classes at local schools.
“Traveling with my teammates and best friends was an unforgettable experience,” said Jemma Peterkin, Class of 2027. “I’m so grateful we had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in different cultures and explore exciting new places.”
The men’s team traveled to Lisbon, Portugal, where they visited the beach, took a cooking class, and volunteered to clean and repaint a community gymnastics club. They also played with Lacrosse Scotland’s men’s team (who flew from Scotland to meet the Spiders).
“I loved spending time with teammates in a social and non-competitive setting,” said rising senior Gavin Creo. “It was a very fulfilling experience to be able to do unique activities in Europe, and I will carry those memories with me forever.”
Dan Chemotti and Anne Harrington, head coaches of men’s and women’s lacrosse, expressed gratitude for the donor support, which made the experience possible.
“Ultimately, we wouldn’t have been able to go without their generosity,” Harrington said. “It’s such a special thing we can do with the team, and it only happens once every four years. I’m not sure I can fully convey how powerful and unique the experience is.”
“These students deserved to go on this trip, and having it made a reality was incredible,” Chemotti said.
Richmond named a top producer of Gilman Scholars.
The Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship Program, a U.S. Department of State initiative that provides scholarships to study or intern abroad for academic credit, named UR a Top Producer of Gilman Scholars. Since the Gilman program’s launch, 126 Richmond students have received Gilman scholarships to support international study.
“The Gilman Program is a great fit for University of Richmond students who are interested in global connections and developing essential career skills through study abroad experiences,” said Dana Kuchem, director of the Office of Scholars and Fellowships.
While living in Rome, Josie Mastandrea, ’26, took every chance she could to explore, traveling to nine different countries.
“By the time I came back to the U.S., the world that I knew felt so much bigger,” she said.
Learn about UR’s latest Gilman Scholars here.
