SUNY Chancellor King Visits SUNY Fredonia, Highlights Paid Internship Opportunities for Students
August 14, 2025
Campus Enters Third Year of the Program Which Provides Advising, Internship Opportunities, Stipends, and Wrap-Around Support
Part of Chancellor's Goal to Ensure Every SUNY Student Experiences a High-Quality Internship or High-Impact Practice
Fredonia, NY – State University of New York Chancellor John B. King Jr. today visited SUNY Fredonia and celebrated paid internship opportunities during a meeting with students. SUNY Fredonia is entering its third year of a comprehensive paid internship program, which provides advising, stipends, and wrap-around support in order to ensure more undergraduate students may participate in internship opportunities on and off campus.
SUNY has set the ambitious goal that every student will participate in a high-quality internship or other experiential learning opportunity before they earn their degree.
SUNY Fredonia's program focuses on helping students participate in public service-related internships in areas like education, social work, music therapy, and medical laboratory sciences that that are typically unpaid by providing students with $1,000 SUNY Internship & Living Stipends. Of the 371 internships last year, 203 students were eligible to receive a stipend, up from 112 the previous year. The stipend and internship resources are funded by increases in annual reoccurring operating aid approved by Governor Kathy Hochul and the State Legislature since the 2023-2024 Enacted Budget.
"By setting the ambitious goal of an internship for every SUNY student, SUNY is empowering our future leaders with the benefit of real-world experience to reinforce and apply what they learn in the classroom," said SUNY Chancellor King. "Thanks to the support of Governor Hochul and state leaders, we are able to grow these successful programs and provide resources for even more student interns. I applaud SUNY Fredonia for being a leader in the effort to provide all students with high-quality internships that will help them succeed after graduation."
SUNY Trustee Eunice A. Lewin, Co-Chair of the Student Life Committee, said, "SUNY provides an excellent education and opportunities to enrich their academics with hands on experience. It has been a pleasure joining Chancellor King as we met with SUNY Fredonia students and discussed how SUNY could empower these future leaders to achieve academic excellence and pursue their dreams."
SUNY Fredonia President Stephen H. Kolison Jr. said, "Paid internships give every student the chance to apply their learning, build connections, and serve their communities. We are deeply appreciative of SUNY and New York State's investment in this program, which is already making a real difference for Fredonia students by removing financial barriers and expanding access to meaningful, career-shaping experiences."
In addition to meeting student interns, which also includes students in the Empire State Service Corps, Chancellor King and President Kolison also met with students on campus within the Educational Opportunity Program and Advancing Completion through Engagement (ACE). ACE targets baccalaureate students and provides financial resources and wrap-around supports to remove barriers to full-time study, helps students gain and maintain academic momentum, and creates a connected community among students, all in service of increasing timely degree completion. This fall, 250 SUNY Fredonia students are expected to participate.
State Senator George Borrello said, "Internships give students the chance to apply their education in real-world settings, and that experience is invaluable. I'm glad to see SUNY Fredonia connecting students with these opportunities and ensuring they're paid for their work. Our investment in these programs is really an investment in building a stronger, better-prepared workforce for our region."
Credit-bearing internships coordinated by SUNY Fredonia were hosted at organizations such as Brooks Hospital, the Buffalo Bills, the Chautauqua County District Attorney's Office, Chautauqua Institution, DFT Communications, the Disney College Program, Interlochen Center for the Arts, the National Comedy Center, Paychex, Inc., Say Yes Buffalo, and the Super Bowl – New Orleans Host Committee. Additionally, 188 internships were supervised by on-campus offices, departments, and programs.
Last year four SUNY Fredonia students participated in Governor Kathy Hochul's Empire State Service Corps, and eight are expected to join beginning this fall. Governor Hochul and the state legislature committed $2.75 million to continue to fund the Empire State Service Corps in the FY26 Enacted Budget. The Empire State Service Corps also received an AmeriCorps grant, which allows the students to earn an education award that can be used towards college expenses such as tuition or books and supplies. Empire State Service Corps is a proud AmeriCorps partner.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state's only college of optometry, 12 Educational Opportunity Centers, over 30 ATTAIN digital literacy labs, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.7 million students across its portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2025, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and annually one in three New Yorkers who earn a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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Holly Liapis
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