In recent months, Syracuse University has kickstarted a new Manhattan Project. Don’t worry, SU is not building atomic bombs, just a bigger university-sponsored presence in the “world’s greatest city.”

Last Sunday, university officials announced the signing of a 10-year lease for the second floor of a 17-story building in Manhattan. The 20,000-square foot space is a new academic center, but further specifics have not been released. This comes on the heels of the September announcement of the Fisher Center, a new study abroad center in Manhattan, named for SU alumnus and Board of Trustees member Winston Fisher.

This represents the first step toward a grander experiment: a semester-long, off-campus study program in the Big Apple.

Intra-national programs are a burgeoning trend at SU.

The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications offer a semester in Washington, D.C. Newhouse and the Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries offer a semester in Los Angeles.

The DC program started with 11 participants in the spring of 2003. Seventy-seven participated this past fall. The LA program started with 28 students in the fall of 2009, and 61 students are studying in Hollywood this spring.

The NYC semester will help make intra-national programs just as prominent as the international options.

Let’s be honest – college students study abroad because it’s a four-month joy ride. Students take four or five cakewalk electives and enjoy the scenery.

There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s an amazing life experience. But that’s all it usually turns out to be.

Intra-national programs set themselves apart by offering premier networking opportunities on top of a similar, if less dreamy, life experience.

More than 7,500 SU alumni work in Los Angeles, and more than 15,000 work in DC. Building off of these expansive networks, Newhouse, Bandier, and Maxwell officials set up each participant with a 20-hour-per-week internship as a part of each program.

In LA, SU students have interned at such notable outlets as Will Ferrell’s FunnyorDie.com and “Conan.” In DC, they have held positions at places like CNN and the World Bank.

In New York City, the opportunities would be more plentiful. As the working home for almost 50,000 Orange alumni, the city has the most ubiquitous SU network on the planet. Many SU post-grads relocate there before they even find a job. By studying in NYC, students could feel out city life and get a leg up on entry-level job competitors.

Unlike LA, New York’s proximity is also beneficial for students who hail predominantly from the Northeast.

Let’s say an SU student from New Jersey interns with Bloomberg Media during the spring semester. His bosses like him so much, they invite him back for the summer. He doesn’t have to find an apartment; he can just live at home and take the train every day. By interning for six months instead of four, he has a better chance at leveraging his internship into a job.

Unlike LA and DC, NYC is also a hub for prominent industries – from entertainment to investment to law. Therefore, the NYC semester would not have to be limited to one or two schools within SU.

Hundreds of students in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and the College of Law apply for jobs in major metro areas every summer. Neither school offers an off-campus program within American borders.

Syracuse is not a hotbed for any one specific industry. The university has a deep pool of national connections that help it thrive in a minor metro area.

Intra-national programs are an extension of this model. The concept is succeeding in LA and DC, but New York will make it an example for other schools to emulate.

Jarrad Saffren is a junior political science and television, radio and film major. He can be reached at jdsaffre@syr.edu and followed on Twitter at @JarradSaff. 

Published on February 27, 2013 at 1:00 am