student dance performance

Experiential Learning at Buffalo State

Anthropology students digging at Old Fort Niagara
Students excavating at Old Fort Niagara

Experiential learning refers to the process of gaining knowledge through direct experience—"learning by doing."   Students involved in experiential learning activities apply knowledge and skills gained from traditional classroom learning to hands-on activities, often in real-world settings.  Students can then apply new knowledge and skills gained from the experience back to their academic learning. The experiential learning activity often occurs outside of the traditional lecture classroom and is often accessed as part of a special program on campus. At other times, experiential learning is a required component of a course or a program and access is achieved through the faculty or academic department.

Experiential learning activities can take the form of special projects, directed research, immersion in a new culture, working in the community, special training, or gaining experience in a work setting. 

This page is meant to serve as a portal to help students, faculty, and staff find hands-on learning opportunities.

Current Opportunities

Fellowships and Internships

  • SUNY/EOP Summer Undergraduate Research Program

    The program is designed for full-time EOP students (rising sophomores, juniors & seniors) majoring in a STEM field with a GPA of 2.5.  The program included $3,600 Stipend, Room, Board & Travel, On-Campus Housing, Professional Development Workshops and Weekly Social Activities on another SUNY campus.  Participating SUNY host campuses include Brockport, Geneseo, Oswego, and Polytechnic. There is a virtual information session on April 16, 7-8 PM.

    Application Deadline: April 25, 2025

    SUNY/EOP Undergraduate Research Program Virtual information session Zoom link
  • Civic and Community Engagement

    2025-26 Empire State Service Corps (ESSC) program

    Selected Buffalo State students engage in paid ($16/hr) public or on-campus service work over the academic year. This opportunity allows New York State students to be paid for meaningful work that can provide lifelong skills as well create lasting impacts in their community. Students must work 300 hours total to fulfill their obligation. Service areas include (among several) Civic Engagement/Civil Discourse, Food Insecurity, and Sustainability. 

    ESSC application

Conferences and Travel

  • Student Travel programs

    Funds to assist students to travel to conferences to present research and scholarly findings.  Graduate students may also travel for professional development opportunities.

    Deadline: ongoing

    Undergraduate Research Travel program GSA funding for graduate students
  • Student Research Conferences

    Opportunity for students to present results from research and creative projects:

    • SRCC is a Buffalo State conference for Buffalo State students on May 2, 2025.  abstracts are closed
    • SUNY SURC is a system-wide conference on April at SUNY Binghamton.   abstracts are closed
    • NCUR is a national conference April 7-9, 2025 in Pittsburgh, PA.  abstracts are closed
    SRCC (Buffalo State) SURC (SUNY) NCUR website

Offices and Programs

students in Portugal

Global Engagement

The Maurene Callahan Bouras Center for Global Engagement leads the charge for campus internationalization by providing immersive cultural experiences that impact students’ ability to respectfully engage with and learn from differences. At Buffalo State we are on the forefront of applying a social justice perspective to support and cultivate global citizenship. Our experiential learning programs for students include:

  • Study-Away—both short-term, faculty led programs and longer study abroad experiences
  • National Student Exchange
Maurene Callahan Bouras Center for Global Engagement
student volunteers

Civic and Community Engagement

The Dr. Katherine S. Conway-Turner Office of Civic and Community Engagement advances the urban-engaged anchor mission of Buffalo State by providing curricular and co-curricular learning opportunities, developing civic skills, and building reciprocal community partnerships that promote equity and address community-identified priorities. We help connect students with volunteering and service-learning opportunities in the community.

Dr. Katherine S. Conway-Turner Office of Civic and Community Engagement
student researcher transferring liquids

Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate research is a student-faculty collaboration that is forged to examine, create, and share new knowledge or creative works. Undergraduate Research programs support research projects, travel , and fellowship awards for undergraduate students in all disciplines at all levels.  Undergraduate Research also hosts the annual Student Research and Creativity Conference at Buffalo State for both undergraduate and graduate students wishing to share the results of their research, creative, or scholarly activities.

Undergraduate Research
Students attending Social Justice Festival 2023

Anne Frank Project

The Anne Frank Project utilizes story-based programming to provide powerful learning experiences for students, educators, businesses, and community organizations. The Anne Frank Project sponsors the Rwanda study away program, campus workshops, professional internships, student orientations, and social justice festivals.

The Anne Frank Project website
Students at CAPE internship fair 2024

Internships

The Buffalo State University Career and Professional Education Center (CAPE) provides comprehensive services to matriculated undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, employers, and faculty/staff.  An internship is a type of applied learning experience for which a student may earn academic credit in an agreed-upon, short-term, supervised workplace activity, which is often related to a student’s major field. The work can be full or part-time during the semester or summer, on- or off-campus, paid or unpaid.  Career-related internships are usually completed in a student’s junior or senior year.

Internships at the CAPE website
graduate students at the Great Lakes Center

Graduate Student Programs

Graduate academic programs often include an applied-learning requirement (e.g. thesis research, master's project, student teaching) as part of the degree requirements.  The Graduate Student Association (GSA) offers funding to help offset the costs for these and other experiential learning opportunities at the graduate level.  Funding is available for needed supplies, travel, and professional development opportunities.

Graduate Student Association (GSA) funding website