Table of Contents
PHILADELPHIA — Saint Joseph’s University (SJU) and Campbell’s Soup Co. last month extended their decades-long partnership with the launch of the Campbell’s Collaboration Center within the school’s Drexel Library. The new facility offers a cutting-edge learning environment for both undergraduate and graduate food marketing students. Equipped with large touchscreens, sound bars and virtual meeting capabilities, the space allows students to engage with the latest industry tools under the guidance of food marketing faculty.
The Campbell’s Collaboration Center will also be home to an ongoing food marketing speaker series, providing a unique opportunity for students to connect with Campbell’s leaders. Additionally, it will host food marketing recruiting events, employer lunch and learn sessions, and interviews for co-op and full-time positions in the supermarket and consumer packaged goods industries. The space will further serve as a dedicated meeting area for the student-run Food Marketing Association.
SJU’s connection with Campbell’s began almost 60 years ago, when the supplier, which produces beverages, sauces and snacks, as well as the eponymous soup, donated the Campbell Collection to SJU — a dedicated food marketing library within the business school. The collection housed research materials, industry data, trade publications and market research reports. At its peak, the Campbell Collection was recognized as one of the world’s largest repositories of food industry information. Eventually, it was relocated from the business school to the Drexel Library.
Mike Pierson, chief customer officer of Campbell’s Snacks, serves on the SJU Academy of Food Marketing board of governors. In collaboration with his colleague Madison Lujan, senior manager of digital commerce and omnichannel shopper marketing at Campbell’s and an SJU alumni, Pierson and the academy, headed by executive director Joe Bivona, developed the new collaboration center.
