OGDEN -- Business students at Utah State University and the University of Utah will have more help when they look for careers or seek money for college.
FJ Management, formerly known as Flying J, is donating a total of $3.5 million to business schools at the two universities.
The company made the announcement Monday morning at the Flying J Museum in Ogden, with company officials, university representatives and students on hand to celebrate the occasion.
The Utah State University Jon M. Huntsman School of Business and the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business will each receive $1 million to use for fully staffed career services centers.
In addition, each school will get $750,000 to use for scholarships.
The company has a long history with both USU and U of U, said an FJ Management spokesperson, and wants to be in a position to donate to other universities as well.
FJ Management President and CEO Crystal Maggelet attended USU and sits on the school's national advisory board. She said the company proposed the donations in 2006.
"I've been very impressed with what they are doing in their business colleges," Maggelet said. "They are providing a great education to these students and can provide great employees to our companies."
Flying J filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reorganization in 2009, which put the donation plans on hold.
The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2010, and Maggelet said the donations are a way the company has fulfilled its prior commitments.
"We are in a great place now, and we are in a place to do something like this," she said.
The company says it is celebrating its most profitable year since Flying J restructured and became FJ Management Inc.
The company went from being an integrated oil company primarily focused on truck stops to a holding company for financial service and energy businesses.
Taylor Randall, dean of the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, said the school was confident it would receive help from the company.
Maggelet came back to the schools when the time was right, Randall said.
"People like Crystal are good on their word. This is a person with incredible integrity."
The University of Utah will use the money to help students and alumni.
"The vision is, the career center will be built out and it will be a place more alumni can come, and they can make changes in their careers," Randall said.
The scholarships will provide opportunities for people who normally cannot attend college and will be given mainly to freshmen interested in business and chemical engineering who are looking to get a Master of Business Administration, which Randall said is in line with what FJ Management does and the talent it develops.
Douglas Anderson, dean of USU's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, said besides benefiting the students by developing broader career and student service functions, it helps show Utah companies the importance of investing in the human capital that is the students.
"It sets a great example for other corporations in Northern Utah about the importance of investing in our future," he said.
Taking this step so quickly out of bankruptcy shows an enormous step for Maggelet and the company, Anderson said.
"We are just enormously proud of the way she's conducted herself," he said of Maggelet.
"It is a great example for our students."
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