The William E. and Ann L. Swan Business Center
Morgan Kilger/The Bona Venture
BY: ELIZABETH KAMROWSKI, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Most business students at St. Bonaventure University are required to complete an internship. With new endowment funds, the cost of these internships can be reduced.
The School of Business at Bonaventure was recently given the Brian and John Mcallister Scholars Program to assist students with internship expenses.
Brian and John Mcallister are brothers who served as interim deans as well as taught at the business school.
“They [Mcallisters] were instrumental in getting the internship program going off the ground,” said Michael Kasperski, the internship director and chair of accounting.
“It was set up in both Brian and John’s name to help benefit students because they were so close to helping students and putting students first,” said Kasperski. “You talk to a lot of our alums that had them as teachers and they will say, ‘The reason I went into the field I went into was because of John and Brian Mcallister.’”
Every student in the School of Business — with the exception of finance majors — is required to complete an internship by the time of graduation. Kasperski saidThe goal of the endowment is to reduce the cost of these summer internships.
“They [students] have costs like living expenses, tuition, transportation, and so this endowment is to help assist in meeting their expenditures for the internship,” said Kasperski.
Since this is the first year that an endowment will be applied, Kasperski said it will open the door for students to apply to internships in bigger, more-expensive cities.
“There is a lot of conversation about the fact that students will want to go to another city to do their internship from where they live. Again, that puts a burden on them because they have to incur cost of housing, transportation and food,” said Kasperski. “Sometimes when you are going into the bigger cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, the cost of living can be very expensive. This is to help try to defer some of those costs.”
Kasperski believes that the endowment would increase a students’ willingness to apply for more internship opportunities.
“It’s going to enhance students’ willingness to apply for internships that they would’ve otherwise not applied for,” said Kasperski.
The School of Business doesn’t place students in positions. Kasperski said It is the student’s responsibility to find their own internships through networking.
School of Business alumni are an available resource to internship-seeking students, according to Kasperski.
“The faculty across the School of Business are keeping these relationships [with alumni] ongoing, keeping these job opportunities coming in for the students,” said Kasperski.
Although the first awards haven’t been decided, Kasperski estimates there will be four to five awards given out for next summer, ranging from $1,500 to $2,500. However, Kasperski is expecting that number to grow in time due to future endowments.
“This [endowment program] has been set up in such a fashion that they want it to grow,” said Kasperski. “There will be a campaign to expand it. I think that we talk about four to five initial applicants for next summer, and I suspect that over the next several years, I’d like to think that will grow to three to four times that.”
Kasperski believes that this endowment is benefiting the School of Business.
“It gives us another tool in giving students an opportunity to get their internships, to have expanded opportunities, and to see a bigger world,” said Kasperski. “It expands what we’re trying to do here in the School of Business from a mission standpoint.”
Matrecia James, the dean of the School of Business; Mary Coombs, the assistant dean of the School of Business; Janet Glogouski, interim vice president for university advancement; and Ann Lehman, associate vice president for grants and research, all declined to comment for this story.
kamrowes23@bonaventure.edu
