SUNY Canton Management Courses Bolster Area Businesses

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CANTON, NY (03/22/2018) SUNY Canton's Management program is helping four area businesses identify ways to become more profitable.

"Students are able to apply what they learned in class to real world business problems," said Professor Charles R. Fenner, who teaches business classes in the Management program. "It's this application of theory to practice that is at the heart of SUNY technology sector education while preparing the students to follow their entrepreneurial dreams."

Three students currently enrolled in the program have direct ties to area businesses and are using the course's objectives to grow their enterprises.

Kevin B. Kingsbury of the Gouverneur-based Marble City Heating and Plumbing, who is working on his second major at SUNY Canton, is using his coursework to determine his operational capacity and create a plan for future growth.

"I'm trying to gear the whole project to grow our business into a medium-sized operation with 15-20 employees," Kingsbury said.

Kingsbury hires graduates of SUNY Canton's Heating and Plumbing program to work at his company.

Maria B. Vecchio of Sergi's Italian Restaurant in Canton, used her senior project to create a survey to help her learn more about their loyal customer base. As part of the survey, she had SUNY Canton President Zvi Szafran hold a drawing for pizza rolls, one of the local restaurant's signature servings.

Other students are using the class as means of tracking revenues and expenditures for a family business. Ashley A. Martin and Logan W. Jones used their senior-level assignment to track expenditures related to sales at Martin's Marina in Cape Vincent.

Additionally, students in Fenner's Strategic Policies and Issues class helped Rick Gilchrist IV develop a plan to build upon his successful business, Perry's Market in Norwood.

"It started as a brainstorming session about ways I could expand into other areas," Gilchrist said about his time with the class. "The students created the beginnings of a solid plan, and I was able to finish it."

Previously, students in this curriculum have partnered with the owners of Gamer Craze and Luna Boutique in Canton to develop new business strategies.

About SUNY Canton

SUNY Canton is Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and professional certificate programs. The college delivers quality hands-on programs in engineering technology, health, management and public service and recently received number one rankings in library resources, library services and tutoring services in the SUNY Student Opinion Survey. The college's faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses as well as 13 online degree programs. The college's 15 athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division III level and are joining the North Atlantic Conference beginning in the 2018-19 academic year. For more information, visit www.canton.edu.