Qorvis - Continuing Education For All

Continuing Education For All
Qorvis University: "A Culture of Learning"

A fundamental component of Qorvis is a commitment to continuing education and learning. That is why Qorvis University – “A Culture of Learning” was created.  QU offers a number of opportunities for employees to take different courses or lectures aimed at improving professional aptitude, such as offering financial assistance in taking outside professional courses, as well as opportunities to take non-professional personal enhancement courses.  Examples include courses in foreign languages, Italian cooking, or understanding wines.  QU courses are completely voluntary and unofficial, with the emphasis that QU exists as an opportunity for employees to grow intellectually and socially as each one chooses.

At the professional training level, there are monthly luncheon discussion groups, often led by senior Qorvis staff, on related subjects such as press release and op-ed writing, media training and pitching, understanding blogs, electronic media, Web 2.0, advertising and webpage design. Outside experts are also invited to discuss, for example, how legislation works its way through Congress or how investor relations evolve in a changing economy.

New Qorvis employees also go through a New Employee Orientation program in which it is explained how Qorvis differs from other communications firms and the company’s coaching system is emphasized.  In this system, every employee is assigned to a senior mentor who guides him or her through the intricacies of client work and how to succeed at Qorvis.  

QU also hosts a series of breakfast meetings for the staff with high-power journalists, policymakers, political leaders, authors and other special guests.

Recent speakers have included:

  • Hon. John Dingell, House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Committee chairman and longest-serving Member of the House.
  • George Stephanopoulos, ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent and anchor of the Sunday morning program This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
  • Tucker Carlson, Senior Campaign Correspondent, MSNBC.
  • Mark Shields, nationally syndicated columnist and political analyst, PBS’ NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. 
  • Hon. Tony Coelho, former Member of the House of Representatives and the House Democratic Majority Leader.
  • Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the National Gaming Association and former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
  • Helen Thomas, long-time veteran White House correspondent for United Press International (UPI) and now a Hearst Newspapers columnist.
  • Hon. Tom Daschle, former Senate Democratic Leader (both majority and minority) and advisor to presidential primary candidate Senator Barack Obama.
  • Hon. Bob Livingston, former Louisiana Congressman, advisor to the Center for Security Policy and founding partner of the corporate law firm The Livingston Group.
  • Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of the Cook Political Report and a frequent television commentator on politics.
  • Tom DeFrank, author of a new book on President Gerald Ford and Washington bureau chief of the New York Daily News.
  • Ed Henry, White House correspondent for CNN.
  • Tom Boggs, chairman of the executive committee of Patton Boggs law firm and on the list of the National Law Journal’s top 100 lawyers in the United States.
  • Judy Schneider, a long-time expert on Congress for Congressional Research Service.  Not only is Judy is an adjunct scholar at The Brookings Institute and a former House & Senate Committee staffer with more than 30 years experience, she is also considered the foremost authority on Congressional procedure, having taught it to hundreds of Members of Congress and their staff. 
  • Hon. Mickey Edwards, served in Congress for 16 years and is a former chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee. He was national chairman of the American Conservation Union and one of the three founding trustees of the Heritage Foundation. Congressman Edwards has taught at Harvard and Georgetown Universities and is now on the faculty of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a vice president of The Aspen Institute.
  • Bill Press, the host of XM and Sirius Radio’s Bill Press Show, which is also syndicated in many cities across the country, also writes a syndicated column for Tribune Media Services.  Formerly the host of CNN’s Crossfire, Press has written several books, including Trainwreck – The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too Soon), Spin This!, Bush Must Go, and How the Republicans Stole Christmas.  Press is one of the most popular talking-heads in Washington, D.C.