BonaResponds volunteers travel near and far to help those in need.

St. Bonaventure University

Student Clubs & Organizations


St. Bonaventure students are provided with abundant opportunities to enrich their academic experience and provide needed services to others through one of the many School of Business clubs and organizations.



American Advertising Federation

The American Advertising Federal is a national organization that hosts an annual National Student Advertising Competition in which students from colleges and universities across the nation present advertising campaigns to industry executives.

Known as the World Series of Advertising, the competition affords student teams the opportunity to design strategic advertising and media campaigns for real corporate sponsors.

The St. Bonaventure chapter, known as Kwerkworks, consists of 30 students, half of them majors in the School of Business, half from the Jandoli School of Communication. Students must submit a resume and be interviewed for a position on the team.

To learn more and apply, go to Kwerkworks application.


American Marketing Association

The AMA Club provides opportunities to learn about marketing careers and is open to all students interested in marketing, regardless of their major or class year.

Members participate in various charity and fundraising events including March of Dimes walks and volunteer work with the local ASPCA.

The club takes a yearly trip to a major Northeast city (Boston, New York, Washington, D.C.) for meetings and in-depth discussions with business and marketing executives.

Visit our AMA Club website


BonaResponds

BonaResponds volunteers n a work siteWhen Hurricane Katrina hit the Golf Coast in 2005, killing more than 1,800 people and leaving millions homeless, a group of nearly 300 St. Bonaventure students, staff and community volunteers embarked on a two-week relief mission to the affected region.

It was the largest service trip in the history of the university, and the birth of BonaResponds, one of the most energetic and exciting student organizations ever assembled.

Open to anyone with a calling to make things better, its mission is simple: to help others through volunteering. BonaResponds answers calls for help from those impacted by major disasters — volunteers traveled to Ohio to help victims of flooding and to Alabama after a deadly and destructive tornado — and from local community members who just need a helping hand.

Learn more at bonaresponds.org.


Bonaventure Accounting Association

The Bonaventure Accounting Association (BAA) offers students a wide range of professional and social opportunities for exploring the accounting profession:

  • field trips that enable students to study the financial markets
  • networking events with Bonaventure alumni working in the accounting industry
  • service projects that enable students experience the profession at work, students gain a greater understanding of the field and learn about career possibilities.
The club also sponsors various business seminars on campus during the school year such as the Accountants in Residence Day and Meet the Accountants Night. 

C4 Consulting

In this group, which faculty advisors note is more of a company than a club, students work with businesses and nonprofits through partnerships with such development groups as the Olean Business Development Corp. and Southern Tier West Regional Planning & Development Board.

Students engage with local businesses, mostly startups, that need assistance with such things as budget forecasting, marketing and other crucial business matters.

Students work alongside experienced professionals as they engage with clients, offering marketing and management advice and services.

Student participants cite their involvement in C4 as the major factor in their development as effective communicators, leaders and collaborators.

For more information, email Dr. Todd Palmer, associate professor of management


Embrace it Africa

Started by St. Bonaventure students, this nonprofit organization is focused on sustainable economic development in the small African village of Bethlehem in southern Uganda.

It works to improve facilities and services at Bethlehem Parents School and Orphanage, and it uns a government registered micro-finance program to aid local entrepreneurs.

Learn more at embraceitafrica.org.



Enactus

A Bonaventure student with students from a school in the BahamasEnactus is an internationally recognized nonprofit organization that promotes partnership between leaders in business and university students to make a difference in their local communities.

Known as the world's largest experiential platform, Enactus works to create a better, more sustainable world while developing the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators.

Enactus bonds teams of students together in order to advance the United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals. More than 72,000 college students are involved in villages, towns and cities around the world, developing and managing aimed at improving lives and strengthening communities.

In running projects that help others, students develop business and leadership skills, as well as a sense of service and responsibility to the community and world around them.

Each January, St. Bonaventure Enactus students undertake an entrepreneurial service trip to the Bahamas. This student-run trip includes business consulting, work with elementary schools, technology expos and Special Olympics programs.

Our work has included:
  • teaching 1,800 schoolchildren the essentials of entrepreneurship, global economics, financial literacy and values
  • running after-school programs focusing on technology
  • conducting evening computer classes for working adults
  • installing school computer labs
  • painting an entire school building
  • assisting in rehabilitating a building into a state-of-the-art distance education/recreation center
Enactus is open to students from all majors. Follow the Bonaventure group on Facebook and Twitter.



Family Business Club

The Family Business Club prepares students to be significant contributors to their family firms, start their own company, or serve family businesses as employees, customers, suppliers and advisers.

Open to any students, the club offers networking and educational programs to prepare students for the opportunities and daunting challenges unique to family firms. The club fosters relationships with alumni, parents and friends who offer students business tours, talks, mentorships and internships.

The club is supported by an interdisciplinary faculty from across campus, all with relevant family business experience. They offer seminars, service and research opportunities for students.

For more information, email Dr. Khaled Amira, assistant professor of finance and club adviser.


Management Club

The Management Club provides members an opportunity to develop personally and professionally through education, association with business professionals, and the development of leadership skills. Members also have the opportunity for involvement in the local business community.

The club sponsors an annual spring trip to a major city each spring semester, during which students tour well-known businesses and acquire a greater sense of the day-to-day operations of successful organizations.

In conjunction with these trips, an alumni event is held annually in a destination city (Boston, New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C.) where club members have an opportunity to network with St. Bonaventure alumni. Similar trips to regional cities (Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh) are taken in the fall.

Many club members are also active with BonaResponds (see above).

To learn more, email John B. Stevens, management lecturer and club adviser.


Pi Sigma Epsilon

Pi Sigma Epsilon is the only national, professional fraternal organization in sales, marketing and management in the United States. It engages students with faculty, alumni and the community to create service and business opportunities that will broaden students' experiences and allow them to learn and hone marketing and sales skills.

The Epsilon Xi Chapter meets several times per semester in order to plan, organize, and coordinate community service events, educational programs, fundraising opportunities, and to prepare for regional and national sales competitions.

The program objectives of PSE are to help students:
  • comprehend the roles of sales, marketing, and sales force management
  • demonstrate the ability to perform in a competitive environment
  • communicate effectively, verbally and nonverbally
  • assess performance strengths and weaknesses


Students in Money Management

Students conferring during a SIMM meetingStudents in Money Management (SIMM) is an experiential learning program in which students manage a real investment portfolio of approximately $600,000.

Students participate fully in all aspects of the portfolio management process, learn and apply equity valuation techniques, and network with alumni and other business professionals.

Under the supervision of a St. Bonaventure professor of finance, students from a variety of educational backgrounds explore portfolio management theory and reinforce their theoretical knowledge by participating in the active management of an actual investment portfolio. There are also guest speakers and networking trips to such cities as New York and Chicago.

An advisory board, composed of donors and alumni, provides general oversight and advisement.

Earnings are distributed at the discretion of the advisory board. One-third of realized gains are donated to charitable, nonprofit organizations, one-third is retained in the equity fund, with the remaining one-third of gains given back to the endowment.

For more information, email Dr. James Mahar, professor of finance.