Penn State Smeal and the Downtown State College Improvement District partner to provide hands-on learning for students and new opportunities for local businesses
The Penn State Smeal College of Business and the Downtown State College Improvement District (DSCID) have launched a six-week pilot partnership that serves as a replicable model for how universities and communities can collaborate to strengthen student learning while directly supporting local economic vitality.
The pilot received participation from seven downtown businesses, including Evolve Studio, Connect Happy Valley, Mid-State Literacy Council, Penn Steaks, The Whiskey Barber Salon LLC, W.C. Clarke’s The Cheese Shoppe, KB Offset Printing, and Yoga Lab. Each of these businesses served as a live business environment where graduate students from Smeal’s one-year residential master’s programs applied classroom learning to real operational challenges.
Director of Graduate Career Services Joseph Ianiero leads a team of coaches to provide career services to residential master’s students in the Smeal College of Business. He also guides students through the full-time job search process, helps them develop effective search strategies, and cultivates employer relationships that lead to more career opportunities and stronger employment outcomes.
That commitment to preparing students for successful careers also shaped the college’s partnership with the DSCID. The Smeal College recognized that this partnership could provide an opportunity for students to gain real-world experience while completing their graduate degree.
“Companies could benefit from the expertise and skills of the graduate students, and the students could learn from business owners,” Ianiero says. “We presented the idea to Kendra Kielbasa of the Downtown State College Improvement District, and she was excited about the opportunity. This is also a major part of our Smeal Strategic Plan to be Top 5 in 5.”
Kielbasa serves as retail and commercial business advocate for the DSCID. Her role focuses on supporting the growth, success, and sustainability of downtown businesses, while also helping create opportunities for new businesses and entrepreneurs. She works directly with existing businesses to identify opportunities, connect them with resources, and help address challenges they may be facing.
“I also collaborate with property owners, business and economic development partners, Penn State resources, and community organizations to strengthen downtown as a place where businesses can thrive,” she says. “The Smeal partnership was a natural extension of that work because it connected talented graduate students with local businesses that could benefit from their skills and perspective.”
Jana Jaffa, assistant director of Graduate Career Services in the Office of Professional Graduate Programs in the Smeal College of Business, provides career coaching services across six one-year residential master’s programs: MBA, Accounting, Finance, Business Analytics, Real Estate, and Supply Chain.
“With my team and in collaboration with campus partners, we offer a variety of professional development workshops, employer engagement and information sessions, and opportunities for Smeal graduate students to develop career competencies to enter the workforce,” she says. “The pilot experiential learning partnership between Smeal and DSCID was born out of conversations about bridging the town-gown relationship by applying both the academic background and work experience of talented Smeal master’s students to the local community in the form of real-world projects tied to an independent study.”
The application process was open to students in all Smeal one-year residential master’s programs. Students submitted a copy of their resume, explained their interest in participating, listed the top skill sets they were willing and able to offer a local business owner, and described their career goals and how the program fit within those goals. After the graduate career team discussed the applications and made its selections, with the help of the DSCID, students were strategically matched with business owners based on the students’ skills and the businesses’ needs. They then spent six weeks working collaboratively to develop recommendations and solutions.
Both Ianiero and Kielbasa view the initiative as a true partnership between the Smeal graduate programs and the DSCID.
“We are excited that we could provide opportunities to both students and the businesses, and are proud that the program was successful,” Ianiero says. “We received positive feedback from both students and business owners. We also learned about ways to improve the program and have started implementing the changes.”
“Many small businesses have tremendous passion and expertise in their industry, but they often do not have the time or resources to focus on areas such as inventory, accounting, marketing strategy, social media, sales, and operations,” Kielbasa says. “At the same time, Smeal graduate students are looking for meaningful, real-world experiences where they can apply what they are learning in the classroom.”
Participant Perspectives
The Whiskey Barber Salon’s project focused on human resources and accounting. From a student perspective, Emma Arcos, an MBA student with a background in human resources, shares how she supported the business owner in opening a new business.
“I worked with Tanya Campbell, founder of the startup The Whiskey Barber Salon,” Arcos says. “Guided by her own past experiences working in the industry, Tanya prioritized the work of building a strong foundation as an employer for members of the State College community where she has lived for decades. Over the six weeks, she taught me about State College and barbering, and I taught her about HR operations. We mutually inspired confidence in one another as entrepreneurs.”
“Emma was fantastic to work with,” Campbell says. “She brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table. I learned so much and have a program for hiring and training that far surpasses industry standards.”
“Many small businesses don’t focus at all on HR,” Kielbasa says. “Tanya selected this process so that as she grows beyond one employee, she has the tools to be compliant, succeed, train, and onboard new team members.”
As an international student with a technical background, Aditi Behera, a Master of Business Analytics student, had the opportunity to serve as a digital marketing and business strategy consultant with The Cheese Shoppe. Her work spanned three interconnected areas: website optimization, social media content strategy, and customer relationship management (CRM) setup.
“Together, these projects gave me a comprehensive view of how small businesses can leverage digital tools to compete and grow in today’s marketplace,” she says. “This program has been directly formative for my development as a master’s student in Business Analytics and my long-term goal of working as a strategy consultant or business analyst. This internship confirmed that I am on the right path and gave me a meaningful real-world foundation upon which to build.”
Jaffa says additional student testimonials emphasized increased confidence, valuable real-world experience, and the mutual learning opportunities the program was designed to foster.
What stood out most to Kielbasa was the willingness of each business owner to open their doors and share their challenges and opportunities with the students.
“Small businesses operate on shoestring staff, while operating at full speed every day,” she says. “Creating time to step back, evaluate, and think strategically can seem daunting amongst the everyday ‘have-to’ tasks. Some businesses already had tools and platforms but did not know how to fully utilize what they had. In those cases, the students were able to set up replicable systems and teach the business how to use them.”
Looking Ahead
Jaffa hopes the partnership continues to grow into a signature experiential learning opportunity that benefits both one-year residential master’s students and the local business community. She also hopes the collaboration becomes a trusted resource for local business owners, one that brings fresh perspectives, analytical insights, and innovative solutions to business challenges.
“Ultimately, our vision is to establish a sustainable ecosystem where experiential learning, employer engagement, and community impact reinforce one another,” she says.
Kielbasa shares that vision.
“There is tremendous value in connecting students with the entrepreneurial spirit and resilience of our downtown business community,” she says. “Students gain experience, businesses gain support, and our community benefits from stronger connections between Penn State and downtown. This is a wonderful example of how Penn State’s resources can directly support the vitality of downtown State College.”
In the Smeal College of Business 5 in 5 Strategic Plan, Dean Corey Phelps emphasizes the importance of embedding experiential learning into all academic levels, including graduate degree programs.
“We hope to expand this program by the number of companies participating and the number of students in the program,” Ianiero says. “The experiential learning experience is a major part of our Smeal Strategic Plan to be Top 5 in 5.”
The Smeal College believes these partnerships strengthen career readiness, support regional economic development, and create lasting connections that extend well beyond a single project.
“We are so grateful for the partnership with Kendra and DSCID for providing this opportunity for our students,” Jaffa says. “We look forward to partnering with the DSCID and State College community again this year!”
Questions about the program can be directed to Joey Ianiero at jai12@psu.edu, Jana Jaffa at jmc5558@psu.edu, and Kendra Kielbasa at kendra@downtownstatecollege.com. T&G
Jason C. Klose is a Central PA Arts & Entertainment writer.
