The College of Arts and Sciences wishes to recognize Michelin North America for its contributions to the Raison d'Etre program through both financial support and personal involvement in the project.

Michelin North America is a $9.6 billion dollar a year company operating 18 plants in 16 locations, employing 22,300 people (8,370 of which are employed in South Carolina) in the manufacture of tires for airplanes, automobiles, farm equipment, heavy duty trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and previously the space shuttle.  In edition, Michelin's Travel & Lifestyle division produces road atlases, road maps and travel guides for all the major cities in North America. 

The Raison d'Etre program came to fruition under the direction of Dr. Lara Lomicka-Anderson, an Associate Professor of French and Applied Linguistics at USC.  Centered around collaborative communication tools such as Skype, Twitter, Facebook and e-mail, the program builds community between USC students and students at the Ècole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées outside of Paris.  Students use technology to improve their spoken language skills, exchange cultural perspectives and expand their horizons outside of their own country.

Every Thursday at 10a.m. EST, the students begin video conference sessions with their trans-Atlantic partners.  After six months of getting to know one another, the students travel to each other's countries for a 10 day immersion experience.  The French students visited USC this past February and participated in a variety of academic, regional and cultural activities including a trip to a baseball game, a gospel choir concert, a Krispy Kreme factory tour, and a fire station visit. 

One of the highlights of the trip was spending a day at Michelin's Lexington plant.  Michelin's passion for global engagement was a big reason the organization became involved with the program.  "Michelin, as a global company, is interested in hiring employees who can work with diverse cultures," said Mike Ungar, Director of Corporate Recruiting for Michelin North America.  Programs like the Raison d'Etre that help students develop a real depth of understanding of other cultures are of great interest to our company." 

Students toured the Michelin facility and gained an insider's view on the process of tire manufacturing.  "Being a student in industrial engineering, I found our trip to Michelin to be very interesting.  Indeed, we were given a global view on the tire-making process from the raw material to the final product quality check.  The team was very welcoming with us and managed to explain to us Michelin's business and values in an interactive way," said French engineering student Arnaud Laurent.  USC freshman Georgia Froman added, "Michelin seems to embody the meaning of international co-operation everyone was really impressed by Michelin's commitment not only to their tires, but to their people in Lexington, France, and around the world."

Michelin's generosity also helped Dr. Lomicka and seven USC students travel to Paris in March.  International Business major Erin Smith says, "If Michelin continues to sponsor USC for this program, many more students can gain the confidence they need to work hard to learn the language and see another part of the world they may not have had the opportunity to visit without this program."

Michelin has already committed its support for next year's program, and they encourage any organizations and individuals who are interested in learning more about Raison d'Etre to contact Dr. Lara Lomicka-Anderson at lomicka@sc.edu.

Ungar says Michelin hopes that through the Raison d'Etre program, these and future students will gain skills enabling them to work, live and adapt to diverse situations as they move forward in their lives. 

For their vision of global engagement and their willingness to help open the world up to USC students, we salute Michelin as the College of Arts and Sciences Featured Friend!

Click here to see a list of previous featured A&S alumni/friends