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Orlando Sentinel Names Embry-Riddle Among Top 100 Family-Friendly Employers in Central Florida for Fifth Straight Year

Top 100 Logo Daytona Beach, Fla., Aug. 10, 2009 -- For the fifth year in a row, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ranks among Central Florida’s Top 100 Companies for Working Families, an annual ranking compiled by the Orlando Sentinel. The family-friendly employers were announced at the Top 100 Awards Luncheon held Aug. 7 at Universal Orlando’s Royal Pacific Resort.

The Orlando Sentinel’s Top 100 employers are chosen for this honor on the basis of their family-related benefits, work environment, communication network, and training opportunities. Embry-Riddle has 2,500 full-time employees worldwide, 1,170 of them in Central Florida.

Another publication, Florida Trend magazine, also honored Embry-Riddle this month. In its first-ever ranking of Florida’s Top 100 Best Companies to Work For, the magazine named Embry-Riddle 20th best in the large-company category.

“We’ve worked hard to earn these accolades, and we never rest on our laurels,” said Irene McReynolds, vice president of human resources at Embry-Riddle. “To maintain our status as the global leader in aviation/aerospace education and research, it’s essential that we continually improve our benefits package so we can attract and retain top-quality faculty and staff.”

Embry-Riddle employees enjoy competitive salaries, a paid time-off plan, a four-day summer workweek, and health insurance with vision and dental coverage.

In addition, employees and their family members have access to a world-class education at Embry-Riddle through 100 percent waivers of tuition for credit courses and 25 percent waivers of flight lab fees. Embry-Riddle offers a broad selection of more than 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in aviation, aerospace, engineering, business, and related high-tech fields. The University recently received approval to offer its first doctoral programs, in aviation and engineering physics. The Ph.D. in aviation is the first in the nation.

This year Embry-Riddle’s Human Resources Dept. and the University’s employee Work Environment Quality Council launched two new programs for employees and their families. Bring Our Children to Work Day, held in April, introduced employees’ children and grandchildren to the excitement and value of aviation/aerospace education and careers. More than 50 children ages 8-18 learned about the careers of their family members and toured the state-of-the-art campus. Under the other new program, and in response to the economic recession, Embry-Riddle employees have been donating school supplies for the children and grandchildren of other Embry-Riddle workers. Nearly 70 children in grades K-12 have benefited so far.

The Top 100 rankings were published Aug. 9 in the Orlando Sentinel and will be posted at www.orlandosentinel.com/top100.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 campus centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.