State University of New York at Fredonia


The State University of New York at Fredonia is a public university in Fredonia, New York. It is a constituent college of the State University of New York. Founded in 1826, it is the 66th oldest institute of higher education in the United States, 7th oldest college in New York, and 2nd oldest public school in New York after Potsdam.
Fredonia was one of the state teachers' colleges traditionally specializing in music education, but now offers many programs in many areas, including a growing graduate division. The most popular areas of study include science, communication, music, education, and the social sciences. There are 82 majors and 41 minors.
The Fredonia campus, located in Chautauqua County was designed by prominent architects I.M. Pei and Henry N. Cobb in 1968.

History

Fredonia Academy (1826–1867)

Opened in 1826 as Fredonia Academy under its first principal Austin Smith, the academy enrolled eight students. The first classes began on October 4, 1826. Within one year the Academy had 136 students, 81 boys and 55 girls. In 1827 it was a state normal school.
The Academy reached peak enrollment in 1856 with 217 students. The school was plagued by financial shortages and was forced to close its doors in 1867.

Normal School (1867–1948)

In 1867, the college re-emerged for its second phase of existence, as a New York State Normal School. On December 2, 1867, the Normal began classes with 147 students, 62 boys and 85 girls. For students preparing to be teachers, no tuition was charged, books were supplied, and travel costs were reimbursed; in return, students had to promise to teach after graduation. Those students not studying for the teaching profession paid tuition and provided their own textbooks.
During its 82 years, Fredonia Normal had a tumultuous existence. With a fluctuating student enrollment and threats of state funding reductions, the school seemed to be in constant jeopardy of closing. Nonetheless, gradually the school was upgraded. In 1930, of land west of Central Avenue in the Village of Fredonia were bought to house a future campus. In 1938, music building was the first to be constructed on the Central Avenue site. New York State Governor Herbert Lehman signed the Feinberg Law in 1942 that changed the Normal Schools into Teacher Colleges, statewide.

State University System (1948–present)

With the formation of the State University of New York on March 13, 1948, the college created a Division of the Humanities in 1958, and in 1960 Fredonia was selected by State University to grant the A.B. degree. Previously, Fredonia's curriculum was restricted for teacher training only.
From the 1940s through the early 1960s, additional buildings were erected: Fenton Hall, Jewett Hall, Dods Hall, an addition to Mason Hall, and residence halls Gregory, Alumni, McGinnies, Chautauqua, and Nixon.
In 1968, the master plan for the modern Central Avenue campus was drafted by the highly respected architectural firm of I.M. Pei & Partners of New York at the request of then-president Oscar E. Lanford. A complex came into being that consisted of the Rockefeller Arts Center, Maytum Hall, Daniel A. Reed Library, McEwen Hall, Campus Center student union, Houghton Hall, and LoGrasso Medical Center. Maytum Hall, McEwen Hall, Reed Library, and the Williams Center were all inter-connected, including an elevated walkway connecting McEwen Hall and the Williams Center. Also included in the plan were the suite-style residence halls Kasling, Disney, Grissom, Eisenhower, and Erie Dining Hall ; In 1970, Pei and Cobb returned to Fredonia to construct the second suite-style residence halls of Hemingway, Schulz, Igoe, and Hendrix.
In the early 1970s a second addition was made to Mason Hall, science building Houghton Hall, and multi-discipline Thompson Hall. In 1981, construction was finally begun on the long-awaited major indoor sports facility, Steele Hall, which had been delayed for nearly nine years due to state funding difficulties throughout much of the 1970s. More recent campus buildings and additions have been the University Commons residence and dining hall, additions to Steele and Mason Halls, and another long-awaited project - the new science building adjoining Houghton Hall. A stadium for athletics - mainly soccer and lacrosse - which included an upgraded, lighted playing field, was recently built over the existing playing fields.

Presidents

Architects I.M. Pei and Henry Cobb designed the master plan for the modernized campus in 1968. Many of the buildings are listed in architectural guides as examples of exceptional modern architecture. Some are described in architectural history books. The National Building Museum listed the SUNY Fredonia campus as one of I.M. Pei's ideal places to visit in its 1991 journal "Blueprints."
Pei is credited with designing Maytum Hall, Williams Center, Reed Library, Rockefeller Arts Center, and McEwen Hall, as well as its characteristic circular perimeter road, aptly named Ring Road. The design of Daniel Reed Library earned Henry Cobb and I.M. Pei the 1969 Prestressed Concrete Institute Award.

Academic and administrative buildings

's 2016 edition of America's Best Colleges ranked Fredonia 66th on their list of Regional Universities. Fredonia's graduate program in Speech-Language Pathology is ranked 163rd.

Academic schools

The university is organized into 3 colleges and 1 school:
SUNY Fredonia has 14 residence halls. These halls consist of one single-sex and thirteen coeducational buildings. Students also have a choice of building style: corridor, suite, kitchen-suite, or independent living. Corridor style residence halls are long, staggered hallways with no sections, whereas suites are short corridors with either staggered hallways extending from the main corridor or doors leading into the individual suites.

On campus student media

is a public FM radio station located in McEwen Hall, broadcasting from the top of Maytum Hall on campus. Licensed to the State University of New York at Fredonia, the station broadcasts on 88.9 MHz on the FM dial. "CVF" stands for "Campus and Community Voice of Fredonia," the station's slogan. The station primarily features "alternative" rock, but includes an eclectic mix of genres at consistent times throughout the week. Listeners can catch blocks of Polka, Spanish, Blues, Jazz, Folk, Reggae, Hip Hop and anything in between. Live programs hosted by student and community jocks can be of any format/genre from talk, music, to radio drama. WCVF also covers local sports and includes live broadcasts/commentary for several Blue Devil teams. WCVF broadcasts National Public Radio Monday through Friday: Morning Edition and All Things Considered. These broadcasts are achieved through a partnership with NPR member station WQLN-FM in Erie, Pennsylvania. WCVF-FM has a sister station WDVL which broadcasts via internet streaming and a local cable channel.
The Normal Leader was created in September 1899 by the Zetesian society, an all-male literary organization. The Normal Leader was a monthly newspaper, costing ten cents a copy or fifty cents for a yearly subscription. On September 28, 1936 The Normal Leader became The Leader on its Vol. XXXVI article No. 3 even though the school would not change its name to SUNY Fredonia until 1948. The Leader is produced by a team of Fredonia students, some of whom receive stipends from the Student Association. The Leader is printed by the Corry Journal in Corry, Pennsylvania and is distributed free on campus and in the surrounding community. Today, The Leader features mainly news which is pertinent to the SUNY Fredonia campus and community. This weekly publication comes out every Wednesday during the academic year and can be found around the SUNY Fredonia Campus.
WNYF is the Student television station of the University. WNYF is sponsored by the Student Association, and was founded in 1979 by two communications students. WNYF's programming includes student-produced programs ranging from entertainment, music, Educational television and even a student-written soap opera. In the station's first few months of existence, it began televising the annual dance marathon that raised funds for muscular dystrophy. WNYF maintains an archive of every show produced by the students since 1979. The station was relocated several times, and WNYF settled into its current location in Hendrix Hall in 1997. WNYF broadcasts to the campus on cable TV Channel 8, and to the Public-access television on Channels 17 in Fredonia and 19 in Dunkirk.

Notable alumni

Business

SUNY Fredonia teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. The Blue Devils are a member of the State University of New York Athletic Conference. Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, ice hockey, soccer, swimming & diving and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cheerleading, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.
When SUNY Fredonia was first known as the Fredonia Normal School, the athletics teams were known as the "Normalites". On January 27, 1936, The Leader issued an article which publicized a contest to come up with a new name for the teams. There were two names the committee had chosen, Blue Jackets and Blue Devils. The name Blue Devils seemed to be used more than Blue Jackets. In the issue of The Leader on September 30, 1952; the name Blue Devils was used officially for the first time.