SYRACUSE — Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management has unveiled Consurtio, a student-run company that Whitman is describing as an “experiential learning venture.”

Kenneth Kavajecz, dean of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, unveiled Consurtio during an Oct. 1 event at the school.

“I believe that this is going to transform business education as we know it,” Kavajecz contended.

Students will work on internal operations and individual accounts for client businesses in Central New York and across the country.

“This student-run company that we call Consurtio is going to allow students a chance to make real-world decisions on real-world problems and collect valuable experience in their chosen career path,” he said.

Students are able to work in this company and get credit toward their major. The school would also like to have all members of the senior class working in some aspect of operating the business or pursuing its client projects, Kavajecz said.

Whitman students pursuing their MBA degrees will also be involved in the firm’s management.

“It will be driven by student thought and student ideas and it will be coached and mentored by the faculty and staff and alumni,” he added.

Consurtio is derived from the Latin word for partnership. The partners include the Whitman students, faculty, and corporate partners.

Students will help partner companies pursue “real solutions to real thorny problems that they haven’t been able to solve before,” he added. The companies in turn get the first look at the “next generation of talent.”

Consurtio’s headquarters “will always be” in Syracuse, Kavajecz noted, but noted it might also have operations in New York City, London, or Hong Kong, “which I fully expect at some point.”

Syracuse University said it has earmarked a portion of its endowment to fund operational costs for Consurtio, but didn’t indicate the amount.

Company structure

The students will be involved in corporate governance, or ensuring that the corporation is following the requirements established by law and charter, Terry Brown, the initial CEO of Consurtio, said in his remarks during the event.

Brown is also executive director of SU’s Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, a position he has held since May 2012. He previously was chairman and CEO of the O’Brien & Gere engineering firm.

Whitman students will also be responsible for Consurtio’s financial management, marketing, and quality control.

“So we’ve actually prepared a template in accordance with ISO standards,” Brown added. ISO is the international organization for standardization.

Students will be responsible for human resources, client management, and change management.

“A huge issue for young adults when they get out into the world to recognize when a change occurs, to communicate the change, to manage the change,” said Brown.

Students will also work on three tracks, including consulting, which will involve “market research, business-plan development, logistics, finance and accounting, social media. Those are the basic strengths of this institution,” Brown said.

Consurtio will also work to launch businesses.

“There’s many businesses and technology ideas that have market relevance but lay dormant. They just need someone to take it forward, so we’re going to put our students on that and actually launch businesses out of Consurtio,” Brown added.

The third track is working with distressed companies, or ones that have CEOs with no succession plan and “is in trouble with the bank.”

“So, what we want to do is actually go to the banks … and we want to put a team of students that actually do a [financial] workout and potentially a relaunch,” said Brown.

Ultimately, Brown said he hopes the students’ work in Consurtio will put them “five to 10 years ahead of their peers.”

Clients

Reston, Virginia–based Siteworx CEO Ken Quaglio describes his firm as a “digital experience agency.” The firm offers website design, development, and content-management services.

It sought help from Whitman on its genuine-connection index, said Quaglio. Siteworx wanted to understand how business-to-business (B-to-B) manufacturers will “engage and serve their customers of the future,” according to the Consurtio website.

 “Businesses that sell to other businesses really don’t understand this. They don’t understand that, in the B-to-B space, people want an Amazon-like buying experience,” Quaglio said in his remarks.

Whitman students conducted research and analysis “and a market opportunity for us to go out and define what are the connections that really generate value” in the B-to-B space. Four students finished their work last May and traveled to Siteworx headquarters for a briefing.

“It was an amazing piece of work,” said Quaglio, who earned his MBA at Whitman.

SU Chancellor Kent Syverud was also a client, having had Whitman students create a business plan for the university’s Minnowbrook Conference Center in the Adirondacks.

U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Richard Hanna recently announced more than $2.2 million in federal funding over five years for Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) in Oneida County.

The funding was allocated through the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program. MVCC will use this grant to support the Pathway to Graduation Project to launch new initiatives to increase student success rates while in college through analytical research, the lawmakers said in a news release issued Oct. 1.

MVCC will receive $440,546 in the first installment for the first budget period.

The MVCC Pathways to Graduation Project will include the use of analytics from admission, to identify the most at-risk students and provide support services to struggling students in their studies. That includes hiring “completion coaches” who will serve as the point of contact for students in need of help. Further use of analytics will allow the college to receive early alerts for any current student showing signs of falling behind, the release stated.

The faculty of MVCC will also redesign 18 of the college’s most highly enrolled gateway courses to include toolkits for faculty and students, and build a Learning Commons designated for tutoring, advising, counseling, and study.

“By incorporating analytics, faculty and professors are able to support students every step of the way leading to a well-trained workforce equipped with the skills needed for employment,” Gillibrand contended in the release.

The Department of Education says its Strengthening Institutions Program helps eligible colleges and universities to expand their capacity to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve and strengthen the academic quality, institutional management, and fiscal stability of eligible institutions. Funds may be used for planning, faculty development, and establishing endowment funds, according to the release. Administrative management, and the development and improvement of academic programs also are supported. Other projects include joint use of instructional facilities, construction and maintenance, and student-service programs designed to improve academic success.