Event Dispatch: Lunching with Faculty
Saachi Wadhwani ’28 lunched with Kate Cooney, senior lecturer in social enterprise and management and director of the Inclusive Economic Development Lab.
In this series, students answer quickfire questions about events across campus.
Event: Meet Your Professor: Kate Cooney
Host: Academics Affairs and Student Life
Location: Evans Hall
Date: September 30, 2026
What happened? We had lunch with Professor Cooney and learned more about her specialization at SOM, which is economic development. She shared some information with us about the classes she teaches and, specifically, the lab approach that she uses. Then, we had the opportunity to share our own backgrounds and get some advice.
Who showed up? A mix of first- and second-year students.
Best moment? She really took the time to hear from everyone. Based on our professional backgrounds, she suggested a person she thought each of us should connect with, which was really cool. I also enjoyed hearing more about the courses she teaches. While they were definitely on my radar before this, after meeting her, I’m more interested. I plan on registering for some of them as I use these next couple years to figure out what I want to do.
Who should go next time, and why? If you’re interested in a specific course and see that the professor is having a Meet Your Professor lunch, you should definitely try to register. It’s a great way to get some general industry knowledge and an inside scoop on how their classes run and why. Also, Professor Cooney provided a lot of recommendations for SOM alumni and local industry professionals we could reach out to, and I’m sure other professors will do the same.
How does this fit into your SOM experience? Part of the appeal of coming to SOM was the access to faculty who are specialists in their field, so getting small-group time with a professor so involved in the economic development space was great.
