State University of New York at Oneonta


The State University of New York College at Oneonta is a public liberal arts college in Oneonta, New York. It is part of the State University of New York system.

History

SUNY Oneonta was established in 1889 as the Oneonta Normal School, as part of founding normal schools across the state to train teachers and expand public education. It was located in a building nicknamed "Old Main" at the top of Maple Street in the city of Oneonta. The school's first principal was James M. Milne, for whom the college's current library is named. For nearly 40 years, Old Main was the only building on campus, until 1933 when Bugbee School was built. Named after Percy I. Bugbee, the second principal of the Oneonta Normal School, Bugbee School provided an on-campus training facility for the student teachers attending the normal school.
In 1948, the college became a founding member of the State University of New York system, and the Oneonta Normal School was officially renamed the State University College of Education in 1951. Royal F. Netzer was the college's president from 1951–1970, presiding over a period of tremendous growth. The three joined buildings known as the Morris Conference Complex were the first ones erected on the current campus. The cornerstone of the current building was laid in 1950, with one wing being completed in February 1951 and the other in September 1951. The two wings, Bacon and Denison Halls, were originally used as dormitories, which were much needed on the rapidly expanding campus.
In 1952, the Faculty-Student Association Inc. purchased a 63-acre farm about four miles north of the college. This was the site for development of today's 272-acre College Camp, which provides educational, recreational and social opportunities for the college community.
Home economics programs were added to the college's teacher education programs. In 1954, a Home Economics building and heating plant were constructed on the upper campus. These were followed in 1958 with the construction of a women's dormitory, Wilber Hall, followed by Tobey Hall in 1959.
The 1960s were a period of rapid growth in the college's operating budget, student enrollment, number of staff members, and the campus buildings. To alleviate the shortage of classrooms, 10 mobile classrooms were brought in as a temporary solution. Additional property was acquired to the north and west of the campus, providing two entrances from West Street, one near a new service building.
The first library on the upper campus was built in what is today's Alumni Hall. Other new buildings on the upper campus included a dorm, Littell Hall; a cafeteria and the Chase Physical Fitness Center. A path connected the upper campus with Old Main, which was slowly being phased out as the main academic building.
In fall 1963, the college started accepting transfer students into 13 liberal arts programs, beginning the transition to a multi-purpose higher education institution.
In 1964, a men's dormitory and the first science building, known as Science I, were built. These were followed in 1966 with the construction of four administration and class buildings, five dormitories and the health center.
The late 1960s were a period of rapid faculty turnover. Between 1966 and 1970, there were 205 faculty resignations, retirements or contract terminations. With 35 or 40 new positions each year, the number of new faculty members increased from 35 in 1963 to 80 or more from 1966–1970. With the rapid growth in the number of faculty, the college's four major academic departments began to split into separate departments. The Department of English, Speech and Theater, which also included Foreign Languages, was the first to subdivide in 1969 into three departments: English, Speech and Theater, and Foreign Languages. In 1970, the Science Department split into separate departments of Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science, Physics and Science Education, and the Social Science Department split into six separate departments.
By the early 1970s, several more new buildings had been constructed, including academic facilities, Wilsbach Dining Hall, five dormitories and the Hunt College Union, named for Charles W. Hunt, who served as the school's principal/president from 1933–1951.
A field station on Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York was also completed, stimulated by a gift of 300–400 additional acres. The new building housed an environmental laboratory facility for the Biology Department. It also held the new graduate program in the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Objects, the forerunner to today's in museum studies.
Between 1972 and 1980, teacher education enrollments declined dramatically, while liberal arts enrollments increased. The 1970s were a decade of state budget problems and declining enrollments. Clifford Craven led the college as president from 1970 to 1987.
The historic Old Main building was torn down in 1977, and in 1981, two pillars from the building were installed on a hill overlooking the SUNY Oneonta campus as a reminder of the college's history. Today, they are part of a campus tradition for new and graduating students called "Pass Through the Pillars."
In 1982, the College at Oneonta Foundation was formed with the mission of raising and administering gifts and grants to enhance the academic status of the college through endowment, scholarships and institutional programs. Alan B. Donovan served as college president from 1988–2008. Accomplishments during his tenure included advancements in technology, including Internet access; a more competitive admissions process, expanded multicultural programs and increased financial stability. The college's endowment grew from $1.9 million when Donovan joined SUNY Oneonta in 1988, to $30 million when he left.
Challenges during Donovan's era included student violence in downtown Oneonta and racial tension on campus. The college made national news in Fall 1992 during an incident known as the "Black List." On the morning of September 4, 1992, a 77-year-old woman told police she was attacked at the home of a family she was visiting outside the town of Oneonta. She concluded her assailant was black, by seeing only his hand. Police officers believed that blood at the scene indicated the assailant suffered a cut on his hand from a knife he had wielded. College officials provided New York State Police a list of 78 black and Latino male students to aid in the investigation, provoking outrage and national attention. In the following days, police questioned hundreds of African Americans in the area, stopping them, and checking their hands for signs of wounds. Many members of the black community of Oneonta were stopped multiple times over several days. The perpetrator was never found. In 2012, SUNY Oneonta President Nancy Kleniewski announced the formation of the September 4 Commemoration Committee to develop programming to mark and remember what she termed a "low point" in the school's history.
In the 1990s SUNY Oneonta extended its commitments to community partnership, founding the Center for Economic and Community Development, and the Center for Social Responsibility and Community. Several construction projects were completed under Donovan, including the Alumni Field House in 1998 and the Robin Ross Higgins Hall in 2003. A $10 million renovation to the Human Ecology facilities was also completed in 2003.
In 2008, Nancy Kleniewski began her tenure as SUNY Oneonta's seventh president. In 2009, she convened the Strategic Planning and Resource Council, composed of faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members and charged with developing a strategic plan to help define the college's future.
In fall 2013, SUNY Oneonta reorganized, founding five new schools—Economics and Business, Arts and Humanities, Social Science, Natural and Mathematical Sciences, and Education and Human Biology—to give greater focus to disciplines and careers in those areas. In 2015, the college adopted "" to guide progress through 2020.
President Barbara Jean Morris came to SUNY Oneonta in July 2018 from her position as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Fort Lewis College. Through a listening tour late in the summer of 2018 and a series of hackathon-type events in spring 2019, President Morris established a new mission statement for SUNY Oneonta, “We nurture a community where students grow intellectually, thrive socially and live purposefully.”

Academics

SUNY Oneonta offers over 60 undergraduate majors and graduate programs and over 50 minors. Additionally, SUNY Oneonta offers educational programs that include K-12, Literacy, Educational Technology, School Counselor, Special Education, and Bilingual Education. Certificates are offered in Bilingual Education Extension, School Counselor and one post-baccalaureate certificate in Adolescence Education.

Recognition and rankings

SUNY Oneonta is ranked 55 on the 2019 U.S. News & World Report list of the best Regional Universities in the North and is ranked #144 in the Northeast on the Forbes magazine 2018 list of top public colleges. The college received INSIGHT magazine's Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award in 2014 and 2017, accepted an invitation to join the Colleges of Distinction in 2015, and has been included on The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education college list, ranked 601.
SUNY Oneonta is named to the most recent President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll in 2015 in recognition of a campus-wide commitment to service and civic engagement. The college received The American Association of State Colleges and Universities Excellence and Innovation Award in Sustainability and Sustainable Development for its efforts in combining sustainability and learning.

Accreditations

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education accredits the college. AACSB International accredits the undergraduate programs offered by our Human Ecology Department. Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics accredits the undergraduate Dietetics program. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education accredits the college's education programs. The National Association of Schools of Music accredits the programs offered by the Music Department. The National Association of Schools of Theatre accredits the programs offered by the Theatre Department.

Applied learning

The college strengthens the quality of its academic programs in order to improve the quality of educational experience offered to students through service-learning. Faculty help students make the connection between classroom learning and the world of work in ways that enhance what students gain from the in-class experience. A growing number of faculty are incorporating service-learning as a key component to their course curricula. The Center for Social Responsibility and Community develops and enhances partnerships for interested faculty and collaborating agencies and schools to identify community needs and develop service-learning projects.
SUNY Oneonta offers semester- and year-long study abroad and exchange programs through the Office of International Education in partnership with universities in Finland, Ghana, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Students also participate in a short-term faculty-led field course. These trips are usually part of a semester-long or summer course and typically last 10 days to three weeks, offering hands-on learning in a student's field of study, plus immersion in another culture.
More than 500 students complete credit-bearing internships each year. An increasing variety of opportunities is available right in the Oneonta area through partnerships with businesses and nonprofit organizations, many of which advertise openings and network with students at the annual Job, Internship & Volunteer Expo.
Connections with Oneonta alumni through programs such as the annual Backpacks to Briefcases networking event for business students and the New York City Internship Fair help students land internships further afield, and many of these opportunities lead to full-time employment after graduation.
In May 2014, SUNY Oneonta launched a new international internship program offering opportunities in 14 major cities around the world in partnership with the Academic Internship Council and Connect-123.
Students have collaborated with faculty on a variety of research topics, including a green chemistry invention that won a United States patent. Students also do independent research on topics of their own choosing, guided by faculty mentors, and present them at our annual Student Research & Creative Activity Day on campus. Grant awards of up to $1,500 are available for independent research and creative activity projects conducted by students with faculty sponsorship in any discipline or interdisciplinary area.
Many students also present their research at regional and national conferences, and funding is available to help defray travel expenses through the Caroline ’67 and David D’Antonio Undergraduate Student Travel for Excellence Fund and the Student Travel for Excellence Program.
Often, student-faculty research projects result in publications in academic journals. For example, in fall 2016, nine biology students co-authored an article on five new species of tapeworms published in a peer-reviewed international parasitology journal.

Notable facilities

is the largest optical telescope in New York State, one that is believed to be one of the largest telescopes open for public observing east of the Mississippi.
The College Camp is located at 119 Hoffman Road, on 276 acres of former farm and woodland. Its purpose is to provide educational, recreational and social opportunities for the members of the college community. The camp comprises various types of forest that warrant various management techniques. In winter 2012-13 the Camp was surveyed by a state forester from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation who compiled a complete analysis, description, and recommended management plan for the property.

Notable faculty

Active chapters

SUNY Oneonta Undergraduate Political Science Conference

The SUNY Oneonta Undergraduate Political Science Conference is a tradition hosted by the Oneonta Political Science Club and the Political Science Department. The first conference was hosted March 20–21, 2009. The keynote speaker for that year was Alan Chartock, Professor Emeritus at SUNY Albany and host of The Capitol Connection.

SUNY Oneonta Undergraduate Philosophy Conference

The SUNY Oneonta Undergraduate Philosophy Conference is an annual conference. First conceived in 1995 under the supervision of the late Douglas Shrader, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at SUNY Oneonta, the event is sponsored by the college's Philosophy Club and organized by a student Conference Committee.

SUNY Oneonta New Critics Undergraduate Literature and Composition Conference

The SUNY Oneonta New Critics Undergraduate Literature and Composition Conference is hosted each spring by the English Department.

John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference & Seminar

The John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference & Seminar is held every other year in the summer. Papers are delivered to plenary sessions of students, faculty and visiting scholars. Conference field trips include a visit to John Burroughs's Woodchuck Lodge in Roxbury, NY, which is within walking distance of his burial site.

James & Susan Fenimore Cooper Conference & Seminar

The James & Susan Fenimore Cooper Conference & Seminar is held every other year in the summer.

SUNY Pride Conference

SUNY Oneonta hosts the SUNY Pride Conference each year to "unite SUNY campuses to create a more inclusive environment for the SUNY system as a whole." The fifth annual conference was held in October 2017.

Student life

Campus living

Over 3,000 students live in SUNY Oneonta's 15 residence halls, which offer living arrangements ranging from doubles to apartments. Four freshman Living Learning Communities for students interested in teaching and social justice, leadership, pre-health professions, and sustainability and the outdoors are available.
Dining services at SUNY Oneonta are offered by Sodexo, and the college's residential dining halls were the first in the country designed specifically for Sodexo's Campus Crossroads program. Dining plans are unlimited and offer options for additional dollars for purchases at cafes and other retail facilities on campus.

Clubs and organizations

SUNY Oneonta offers students over 150 clubs and organizations that supports a wide variety of interests.

Faith-based organizations

The Big O' Poetry Slam in the Hunt College Union is a widely attended campus event. It was founded by Alicia Francis, Jamie Manning, Robert Haggerty, George Castle and Robb Thibault on October 24, 2001. The Big O' Poetry Slam has featured more than a dozen national poetry slam champions, and several SUNY Oneonta teams have advanced to the final rounds of the Association of College Unions International's national collegiate poetry slam. Top performances include taking the silver medal in 2005, placing 4th in 2008 and finishing 10th in 2013.

WIRE TV

WIRE TV is SUNY Oneonta's student-run television station. The station produces over 4 hours of original programming each week, in addition to Live Sporting events. To check out current and past programming, visit

WONY

90.9 FM is SUNY Oneonta's student-run radio station. It was founded in 1962 and broadcasts both online and through physical radio, and is active 24/7.

Recognized Greek life

Fraternities

Sororities
The Oneonta Red Dragons athletics program represent SUNY Oneonta, State University of New York. The school's team currently competes at the Division III level in the State University of New York Athletic Conference, and has been since the conference's inception in 1958. Oneonta's athletic teams also compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. The school facilities include Dewar Arena in the Alumni Field House, All College Field, Chase Athletic Building, and Red Dragon Soccer, Baseball and Softball fields.
SportVenueCoach2017–18 Year
BaseballRed Dragon Baseball FieldBen Grimm7th Year
Basketball Dewar ArenaCameron Conover2nd Year
Basketball Dewar ArenaDaphne Thompson11th Year
Cross Country Fortin ParkBrett Willmott2nd Year
Field HockeyAll College FieldKelly Kingsbury10th Year
Lacrosse Red Dragon FieldPeter Owens1st Year
Lacrosse Red Dragon FieldAllyson Baribault1st Year
Soccer Red Dragon Soccer FieldIain Byrne15th Year
Soccer Red Dragon Soccer FieldLiz McGrail11th Year
SoftballRed Dragon Softball FieldSara Headley5th Year
Swimming & Diving Chase PoolChris Schuler-Ghiorse21st Year
Tennis Dr. Joseph A. Heissan Tennis CourtsLonnie Mitchel8th Year
Indoor Track & Field Alumni Field HouseBrett Willmott2nd Year
Outdoor Track & Field All College FieldBrett Willmott2nd Year
Volleyball Dewar ArenaAshley Coyle1st Year
WrestlingChase GymnasiumDuane Ritter14th Year

Notable alumni