Consulting

The Sawyer Business School is strategically located at the intersection of Boston's major industry sectors—finance, fintech, technology, healthcare, entrepreneurship, public service, and nonprofits. We create immersive, hands-on experiences for our students, offering regional and global organizations direct access to the next generation of engaged talent.

Course-based consulting initiatives, student team-based projects, and flash consulting engagements are integral to our undergraduate and graduate programs and curricula.

Course-Based Consulting Initiatives

As part of our undergraduate and graduate courses, students are organized into teams dedicated to solving real-world challenges for our partner organizations. This work is integrated into the class syllabuses, and students are guided and evaluated by individual course faculty.

Wicked Problems

A Green Line MBTA trolley pulls into Park Street Station in downtown Boston, steps from Suffolk's vibrant campus.

Tackling complex global social problems through an innovative new undergraduate course.
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Greek Squad

The winning Saloniki team takes a selfie after the competition is over

Sawyer Business School undergrads used AI and marketing research tools to help alumnus-owned Saloniki restaurant figure out its future.
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Boston Tourism

A panel of Suffolk students giving a presentation.

Master’s students presented to Meet Boston and the Mayor's Office of Tourism, Sports & Entertainment about how to increase tourism.
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Student Team-Based Projects

Faculty-advised student teams independently complete comprehensive analytical projects tailored to the unique needs of sponsoring organizations. These projects stand on their own as separate graded academic activities, such as consulting clinic participation or independent studies.

Suffolk in the Hub

Suffolk students in a classroom, one looks confidently to camera

With real clients and real impact, Suffolk’s student-run agency has quickly become a marketing force.
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Free Jacks

Members of the New England Free Jacks sitting on the bleachers at the media day on the Suffolk campus

Students are gaining marketing experience for clients like the Free Jacks, New England’s professional rugby team.
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LEGO Competition

A group of Suffolk University students and professors.

Business Foundation students won the Spring 2025 LEGO Discovery Center Boston client case competition.
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Flash Consulting Engagements

Flash consulting allows students to apply their knowledge to targeted client challenges in engagements of a day or less. The short timeframe and focus on immediate results encourage students to think critically and work efficiently. Our students flash consulted for a number of clients, including Gillette Stadium, the Massachusetts Innovation Network, and various companies in Vietnam.

Watch what happens when 20 Suffolk graduate students head to Gillette Stadium, spend three hours brainstorming sustainability solutions, then present real ideas to real clients.


Core Attributes

The Sawyer Business School’s core attributes of an immersive education through consulting support our students’ critical learning outcomes and our partners’ organizational objectives.

Informed by comprehensive analysis, focused recommendations and documented objectives, student teams complete project deliverables that specifically address the development and implementation of relevant solutions for our partners.

In their roles as instructors or project advisors, faculty coach and mentor students throughout the consulting and problem-solving process. Students are graded and work for academic credit while gaining practical, real-world experience and insight.

Faculty and students work with partner organizations in advance to determine what type of engagement will work best and what resources will be needed for the engagement.

Student teams develop a consultation plan that meets the needs of sponsoring organizations. With faculty serving as liaisons, students collaborate with organizations to refine the scope of deliverables and deadlines. The model allows student teams to deliver projects that generate real, value-driven results.