| State University of New York | |
|---|---|
| Motto | To learn, to search, to serve |
| Established | 1948 |
| Type | Public University System |
| Chancellor | Nancy L. Zimpher |
| Provost | David Lavallee |
| Vice-Chancellor | Monica Rimai |
| Secretary | John J. O'Connor |
| Academic staff | 83,547[1] |
| Students | 438,361 |
| Undergraduates | 386,818[1] |
| Location | State-wide, New York, United States |
| Campus | 64 campuses[1] |
| Website | suny.edu |
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY ( /ˈsuːniː/), is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States,[2] with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus 1.1 million adult education students spanning 64 campuses across the state. The SUNY system has 88,000 faculty members and some 7,660 degree and certificate programs overall and a $10.7 billion budget.[3] SUNY includes many institutions and four University Centers: Albany (1844), Binghamton (1946), Buffalo (1846), and Stony Brook (1957). SUNY's administrative offices are in Albany, the state's capital.
The State University of New York was established in 1948 by Governor Thomas E. Dewey, through legislative implementation of recommendations made by the Temporary Commission on the Need for a State University (1946–1948). The Commission was chaired by Owen D. Young, who was at the time Chairman of the General Electric Company. The system was greatly expanded during the administration of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who took a personal interest in design and construction of new SUNY facilities across the state.
SUNY comprises all institutions of higher education statewide that are state-supported, with the exception of the institutions that are units of the City University of New York (CUNY), which is additionally funded by New York City.
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The first colleges were established privately, with some arising from local seminaries. But New York state had a long history of supported higher education prior to the creation of the SUNY system. On May 7, 1844, the State legislature voted to establish New York State Normal School in Albany as the first college for teacher education. In 1865 New York created Cornell University as its land grant college, and it began direct financial support of Cornell's statutory colleges in 1894. From 1889 to 1903, Cornell operated the New York State College of Forestry, until the Governor vetoed its annual appropriation. The school was moved to Syracuse University in 1911. It is now the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. In 1908, the State legislature began the NY State College of Agriculture at Alfred University.
In 1946-48 a Temporary Commission on the Need for a State University, chaired by Owen D. Young, Chairman of the General Electric Company, studied New York's existing higher education institutions and recommended consolidating them into a state university system. The State University of New York was established in 1948 by Governor Thomas E. Dewey, through legislative implementation of the commission's recommendations. The system was greatly expanded during the administration of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who took a personal interest in the design and construction of new SUNY facilities across the state.
On October 8, 1953, SUNY took a historic step of banning national fraternities and sororities that discriminated based on race or religion from its 33 campuses.[4] Various fraternities challenged this rule in court. As a result, national organizations felt pressured to open their membership to students of all races and religions.
SUNY is governed by a Board of Trustees, which consists of sixteen members, fifteen of whom are appointed by the Governor, with consent of the New York State Senate. The sixteenth member is the President of the SUNY Student Assembly. The Board of Trustees appoints the Chancellor who serves as SUNY Chief Executive Officer. The current Chancellor is Nancy L. Zimpher.
The state of New York assists in financing the SUNY system, which, along with CUNY, provides lower-cost college-level education to residents of the state. SUNY students also come from out-of-state and 171 foreign countries, though tuition is higher for these students. Although tuition is higher for these non-resident students, their tuition is subsidized by New York State taxpayer dollars.
For the 2010-2011 academic year, tuition costs at SUNY schools for an undergrad degree are less than two-thirds the cost of most other state run college institutions in the U.S. Tuition at the State University of New York at Buffalo for an undergraduate degree is $7,772.75 per semester or $15,545.50 per year for non-resident students.[5] Undergrad tuition for non-resident students at the University of Maryland is $24,830.44 per year.[6] Non-resident tuition and fees at University of Oregon are $25,830.00 per year.[7]
There are a large variety of colleges in the SUNY system with some overlap in specialties from site to site. SUNY divides its campuses into four distinct categories: university centers/doctoral-granting institutions, university colleges, technology colleges, and community colleges. SUNY also has a unique relationship with its statutory colleges which embeds state-funded colleges within other institutions such as Cornell University and Alfred University. Students at the statutory colleges have the benefit of state-subsidized tuition while receiving all of the campus life amenities of the host institutions.
SUNY and the City University of New York (CUNY) are entirely different university systems, despite the fact that both are public institutions which receive funding from New York State. Also, SUNY is not to be confused with the University of the State of New York (USNY), which is the governmental umbrella organization for most education-related institutions and many education-related personnel (both public and private) in New York State, and which includes, as a component, the New York State Education Department.
| Executive | Title | Term |
|---|---|---|
| Alvin C. Eurich | President | January 1, 1949 – August 31, 1951 |
| Charles Garside | Acting President | September 1, 1951 – March 31, 1952 |
| William S. Carlson | President | April 1, 1952 – September, 1958 |
| Thomas H. Hamilton | President | August 1, 1959 – December 31, 1962 |
| J. Lawrence Murray | Acting Chief Administrative Officer | January 1, 1963 – August 31, 1964 |
| Samuel B. Gould | President Chancellor |
September 1, 1964 – January 11, 1967 January 12, 1967 – August 30, 1970 |
| Ernest L. Boyer | Chancellor | September 1, 1970 – March 31, 1977 |
| James F. Kelly | Acting Chancellor | April 1, 1977 – January 24, 1978 |
| Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. | Chancellor | January 25, 1978 – January 31, 1987 |
| Jerome B. Komisar | Acting Chancellor | February 1, 1987 – July 31, 1988 |
| D. Bruce Johnstone | Chancellor | August 1, 1988 – February 28, 1994 |
| Joseph C. Burke | Interim Chancellor | March 1, 1994 – November 30, 1994 |
| Thomas A. Bartlett | Chancellor | December 1, 1994 – June 30, 1996 |
| John W. Ryan | Interim Chancellor Chancellor |
July 1, 1996 – April 20, 1997 April 21, 1997 – December 31, 1999 |
| Robert L. King | Chancellor | January 1, 2000 – May 31, 2005 |
| John R. Ryan | Acting Chancellor Chancellor |
June 1, 2005 – December 19, 2005 December 20, 2005 – May 31, 2007 |
| John B. Clark | Interim Chancellor | June 1, 2007 – December, 2008 |
| John J. O’Connor | Officer-in-Charge | December 22, 2008 – May 31, 2009 |
| Nancy L. Zimpher | Chancellor | June 1, 2009–present |
In the 1970s, students pressed for voting representation on the governing board of SUNY colleges. In 1971, the State Legislature added five student voting members to Cornell's Board of Trustees. However, at that time, all members of a board must be over the age of 21 for a corporation to hold a liquor license, so to allow Cornell to retain its license, the legislature had to go back to amend NYS Alcoholic Beverage Control Law § 126(4) to require that half the board must be 21. In 1975, the legislature added a non-voting student seat to the boards of all SUNY units. Two Attorney General of the State of New York opinion letters[8] reduced the parliamentary rights of the student members to participate at meetings and indicated that they were not in fact Public Officers, and arguably subject to personal liability from lawsuits. In 1977, another statutory amendment made student members of SUNY councils and boards subject to the NYS Public Officers Law or NYS General Municipal Law and granted student representatives parliamentary powers of moving or seconding motions and of placing items on the agendas of the bodies. Finally, the legislature gave full voting rights to the student members in 1979, resulting in the students of all SUNY units having voting representatives, except for the NYS College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Finally, in 1986, the legislature gave the student representative of that college voting rights as well.[9]
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All of these colleges are located in New York State, except that the Jamestown Community College operates its Warren Center in Pennsylvania under a contract with the Warren-Forest Higher Education Council, and the Center is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The Warren Center is 25 miles south of Jamestown, New York on the grounds of the North Warren, Pennsylvania state mental hospital.[74]
The Institute for Community College Development (ICCD) operates leadership ability assessment programs and provides leadership skills development. ICCD's programs are open to administrators, faculty and trustees of SUNY's community colleges.[75] The ICCD also conducts two "Successful Teaching Conferences" each year for developing community college faculty skills.[76] ICCD is a part of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations.[75]
| Campus | U.S. News & World Report, "Best Colleges" ranking[77] | Kiplinger's Personal Finance, "100 Best Values in Public Colleges" ranking[78] | Kiplinger's Personal Finance, "100 Best Values in Public Colleges" ranking for out-of-state applicants[78] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albany | 138th | 84th | 44th |
| Binghamton | 90th | 5th | 1st |
| Buffalo | 111th | 70th | 36th |
| Stony Brook | 111th | 39th | 18th |
| School | Selectivity rating[79] | Percent students admitted[80] | Middle 50% SAT | Students in top 10% of class | Middle 90% GPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany | 78 | 47%[81] | 1110–1260 | 15% | 88-94 |
| Binghamton | 93 | 33%[82] | 1200–1380 | 50% | 92-95 |
| Buffalo | 85 | 51%[83] | 1120–1290 | 28% | 90-96 |
| Stony Brook | 89 | 40%[84] | 1130–1270 | Not reported | 87-93 |
| School | NSF Funding Rank | Funding Dollars (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Albany | 59 | 309,221,000 |
| Binghamton | 191 | 35,462,000 |
| Buffalo | 56 | 314,837,000 |
| Stony Brook | 67 | 268,282,000 |
The SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence is a annual award given out by the SUNY system to distinguished student leaders across the State of New York. Established in 1997, the system considers the Chancellor's Award to be "the highest honor bestowed upon the student body."[85]
Every school within the SUNY system manages its own athletics program, which greatly varies the level of competition at each institution.
The most prominent SUNY rivalry is between the Albany Great Danes and Binghamton Bearcats. The two both belong to the America East athletic conference. Frequently referred to as the I-88 Rivalry, Binghamton and Albany sit at either end of Interstate 88 (roughly 2.5 hours apart). Both teams are known to post the highest visitor attendance at either school's athletic events.
SUNY Oswego and SUNY Plattsburgh also share a notable rivalry in Division III Hockey, with that game almost always having the SUNYAC regular season title up for grabs.
SUNY Cobleskill and SUNY Delhi rivalry is mainly involving basketball, cross country, and previously track, although Cobleskill track and field competes at the NCAA Division III level starting spring 2009. They are in fairly close proximity to each other. The SUNY Delhi 2003-2004 basketball season was canceled after a basketball game was called with 48 seconds left after several SUNY Delhi basketball players nearly started a brawl in the Ioro Gymnasium at SUNY Cobleskill on Wednesday February 4, 2004.
SUNY Oneonta has developed a rivalry in almost every sport with SUNY Cortland. They both share the red dragon as a team nickname, and their matchups are known as the "Battle of the Red Dragons".
There is an unusual sports rivalry between SUNY-ESF and Finger Lakes Community College, with both campuses sponsoring nationally-ranked teams in timber sports (woodsmen's teams).
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