RIT McGowan Scholarship Winner Earns Summer Internship on Set of ‘Army Wives’

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Alison Dupra on set of

It’s been a double hit for Rochester Institute of Technology business student Alison Dupra. She is the recipient of the prestigious McGowan Scholarship from RIT’s E. Philip Saunders College of Business, and is also enjoying the fruits of her labor this summer as an intern on the film set of Lifetime-TV’s popular drama series “Army Wives.”

Dupra says she is “living in southern comfort in Charleston, S. C.,” and playing a variety of “business” roles behind the scenes in the film industry.

“I first worked as production assistant on the set and it’s like being the voice and the feet of the show,” says Dupra who will work at “Army Wives” until the season series wrap-up the first week of August. “So I got to prep the actors—like Catherine Bell and Kim Delaney—help out during scene rehearsals and keep everyone quiet on the set. I’ve also worked as an extra in a few of the episodes, and will be working in the office doing some general business accounting and then spend a couple of weeks in management to learn how they tabulate expenditures and budgets for the show.”

The fourth year international business and marketing major, who speaks both French and Italian, also has something to look forward to this fall when she returns to RIT—a full scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year, made possible by a grant from the Saunders College’ William G. McGowan Charitable Fund. Dupra says she is “so grateful to win this award and it will help alleviate a lot of stress.”

“It’s one of the reasons why I was able to come down to Charleston to pursue a different kind of summer internship to add to my resume.”

The daughter of Craig and Katherine Dupra of Fairport, she is a 2006 graduate of Victor High School. During her years at RIT, Dupra has been both a dedicated athlete and scholar, and her notable achievements include: Dean’s list 2006-present, captain of the RIT varsity track and field team from 2008-2009, and member of the Lowenthal service community group in the Saunders College. She also serves as a marketing associate for the student produced “RIT SportsZone” TV program.

Dupra’s previous co-op experience included working as public relations and events marketing intern at the Canandaigua National Bank & Trust in Canandaigua.

“Canandaigua National Bank was a very valuable experience for me where I did everything from preparing press releases for media sources, to organizing corporate events, to reviewing market research,” Dupra says. “But I really love marketing, and as an athlete I’m really in to sports, so ideally after graduating from RIT, I’d like to work in sports marketing or sports management.”

RIT is among 31 colleges and universities around the country that participate in the William G. McGowan Scholars Program, named in honor of the founder and chairman of MCI Communications Corp.

Note: One of eight colleges at RIT, the E. Philip Saunders College of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (AACSB International) and enrolls more than 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students. The Saunders College and its entrepreneurial Venture Creations Incubator works in partnership with RIT’s Albert J. Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to integrate business education with RIT’s world leading technical and creative programs. The business school is also launching an executive MBA online program this fall.

In six consecutive years since 2004, Saunders undergraduate programs have ranked in the top five percent of all U.S. business schools, according to U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges. In 2009, it was named one of the “Great Schools for Accounting Majors!” in The Princeton Review's “The Best 368 Colleges.”