02/10/2025
Distinguished Teaching Professor Kathleen Burke of SUNY Cortland’s Economics Department was one of only 28 educators throughout the country chosen for the Business-Higher Education Forum’s 2025 Faculty Innovation Fellowship.
But the real winner might be Cortland-area businesses.
The fellowship will allow Burke to create the Business Assistance Internship Program, which will use the skills of SUNY Cortland students to help local businesses meet some critical needs that could include marketing, technical writing and design.
“Most of the businesses here are small businesses,” Burke explained. “They're considered micro — five or fewer employees. ... It's not that the business couldn't take it on themselves, it's just they don't have the capacity because they don't have enough people to actually work on that project as well as run the business.”
Part of the idea for the new internship program came from Burke’s Community Innovation Lab course, in which students work on projects for local small businesses and nonprofits as part of a class.
Burke found that some projects were too small in scope to last an entire semester as part of a course but could be done outside class as part of an internship program. Interdisciplinary teams of students will work anywhere from a half to multiple semesters while getting a unique applied learning experience.
“We have a synergistic relationship with our community, our students are here and they're learning within this community and they're giving back through this all of the skills that they're learning.” Burke said. “They're able to help our community grow.”
The idea is that the internship would ultimately be housed in a larger entrepreneurship designed to help local businesses in many ways.
The fellowship project will also let Burke and her students target specific needs based on an assessment by Cortland County’s Business Development Corporation.
The result, according to Burke, will give students hands-on experience that also supports the plans of those local businesses.
Officially, Burke’s fellowship began in January and lasts until September, and work has already begun. Nineteen student interns are helping to build an economic indicator dashboard that breaks down local and national data into more easily understood components.
The dashboard will not only help existing Cortland-area businesses but be an asset for businesses that may want to see the perks of setting up shop in Cortland.
“We hope it will be used not only by our current businesses … but also for businesses that want to locate to Cortland,” Burke said. “We will have economic indicators and also some socio-economic indicators there so they can see what Cortland is about and why would they want to locate their business here.”
The organization sponsoring the fellowship is a national network that connects corporate and higher education leaders to work together to develop solutions to talent needs in employment. Burke and the other new 28 new fellows represent 18 institutions across 11 states, chosen through a competitive national search.
Their programs are designed to bolster student success, align education with local industry needs and grow innovation and leadership skills for faculty.