On a crisp autumn afternoon, the halls of Albion College carry more than the rustle of textbooks and chatter of lectures. They echo with the energy of students who have traveled to Paris, polished résumés at summer internships, and walked the streets of Chicago in search of business inspiration. These are the Gerstacker students, part of the Carl A. Gerstacker Institute for Business and Management; a program that blends liberal arts education with hands-on business training, and whose influence reaches far into the city of Albion itself.
Since its founding, the Gerstacker Institute has remained true to its mission: to produce graduates who are not simply business-literate, but business-ready. What does that mean in practice? It means that students must complete internships for credit; take summer courses in professional communication and business foundations; engage in travel experiences that broaden their worldview; and often participate in intensive programs such as the International Entrepreneurial Exchange. Its curriculum is built not just around lectures, but real-world exposure.
One of the Institute’s standout offerings is its exchange with a French business school, Sup de V. In that program, Albion students spend nearly nine months collaborating with French students, developing business plans, doing market research, and traveling to Paris for face-to-face work and cultural immersion. The Paris trip isn’t merely aesthetic: students stay abroad for a week, take classes all day, and share ideas with their French peers in workshops. It’s an opportunity to see business in cross-cultural contexts, negotiate language barriers, and understand global markets from inside. Many talks of the profound personal growth as much as the business insights.
Another defining feature of Gerstacker is the summer program. During a required intensive seven-week summer term, students enroll in core courses such as Business Functions and Professional Communication. These classes are fast-paced, often external networking is involved, and they lay a foundation early. It is during these summer courses that students begin to see how business theory plays out in practice. Accompanying the coursework are field trips; the weekend Chicago trip is one example, where students meet with employers, visit firms, and observe business operations firsthand.
Internships are not optional in Gerstacker, they are required. Every student must complete at least one internship for academic credit. Whether in a small nonprofit, a local business in Albion, or a firm in a major city, these internships are often turning points: places where students test skills, build networks, and articulate what kind of business professional they want to become. Behind many successful internships, there are local connections, business leaders in Albion who host interns, mentor them, or give students real responsibility on real projects.
Impact on Albion
The effect of Gerstacker on the city of Albion goes well beyond the edges of the campus. As students participate in internships in Albion and the surrounding region, local businesses get talent, energy, fresh ideas. Non-profits and governmental agencies often find that Gerstacker students bring capacity they might not otherwise have, for research, planning, communication. It makes visible the work students are doing, helps invite community into the college, and anchors events, consultations, and collaborations in Albion’s core.
Moreover, the Gerstacker Institute plays a role in Albion’s global connections. Its Sister City relationship with Noisy-le-Roi, France, for instance, has been thick with exchanges involving students, joint international business project work, internships, and cultural collaboration. That kind of international presence adds cultural richness to Albion, brings people here, builds relationships overseas, and shapes students who think beyond state or national boundaries.
Alumni Voices
It can be hard to capture the real effect of an institution in just data. So it helps to hear from people whose lives were shaped by Gerstacker. John Pearce, class of 2011, now a portfolio manager at the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, once said that the Institute gave him “a tight-knit and caring community” that helped him to “blossom into a man who knew where he wanted to head next.” He emphasized that the staff and faculty “went above and beyond in supporting me in my four years at Albion and thereafter.”
Recent graduates echo similar sentiments. Claire Nickerson, class of 2023, describes how Gerstacker connected her to a network of Albion alumni and helped her gain leadership and business skills through both internships and on-campus engagements. Joseline Lopez Perez, also ’23, credits the Institute with giving her strong interviewing skills and stories she still uses in job or grad school applications. Andrew Sowa, another ’23, says that Albion’s network, including through Gerstacker, through clubs, through alumni, was key to finding opportunities and direction.
Looking Ahead
Gerstacker is not static. With over 1,300 alumni scattered across industries, geographies, and sectors, the Institute continues to expand its reach. Faculty and staff are always exploring new partnerships, new ways to blend liberal arts and business, ensuring that students are prepared for careers that don’t yet exist, in fields not yet imagined.
35% of Gerstacker seniors have job offers at the start of their senior year. That is not just a statistic. It is the result of travel, of internships, of summer term, of long nights writing business plans with classmates in Paris or Chicago or in downtown Albion. Students graduate not only with knowledge but with confidence, global perspective, and a network.
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