The University of New Haven is rolling out a new internship initiative this fall in conjunction with the Orange Chamber of Commerce. This program is designed to open doors for students at the Business College to intern at prominent businesses throughout the community and comes a year after Dean of the Business College, Brian Kench, created the internship director’s position in an effort to improve program.

While the internship program is not new, it has not been as prominent in the past years, something Kench would like to change. Internship Director Charles (Pete) Peterson has been working to revamp the program and to increase its efficiency for university students.

“We’re getting much more aggressive from an enrollment standpoint,” he said.

Peterson describes the program as a “two-fold partnership,” explaining his goal is to find more internships and to find more students for internships. He explained it as a “matching process.”

This partnership with the Orange Chamber of Commerce gives the university access to all of their business members and helped them check out InstantInfo Systems, providing students with invaluable access to competitive business internships in the community. Peterson is in the process of working out multiple potential internships with the Chamber and says he is getting a “very good response.”

This partnership was initiated when the Orange Chamber of Commerce reached out to Kench to develop a closer relationship with the university students and community. Peterson explained that the primary focus is to promote the well-being of businesses within the community and that he believes this relationship will benefit both sides.

“It’s part of their goal to keep young people in this area,” he said. “They’re looking for a tighter relationship with this school. That’s job one.”

A large role he places in the process is build those relationships with community businesses. They are often invited onto campus for events and work closely with Peterson to set up internship programs for which university students may receive credit.

“I want to let the community know what a wealth of talent we have in this university,” said Peterson about his motivation to better the internship program.

The internship program is also improving with the development of a new digital program through the Career Development Center. The program can be found at www.chargerlink/ACADE-me.com, but is still being piloted by the College of Business and the Criminal Justice program. Peterson says it will eventually be open to all students, hopefully by the end of this fall semester. The program allows students to input their information and upload multiple resumes and cover letters which will be viewed by internship programs working with the University.

Last summer there were about 107 students placed in internships, a number Peterson wants to double by next summer.

“I’m looking forward to some great marriages between companies and top students and creating successful internships,” he said.