SUNY at Sixty

Description

This is a fascinating history of the State University of New York, America's largest comprehensive university system. As such, it incorporates community colleges, colleges of technology, university colleges, research universities, medical schools, health science centers, and includes specialized campuses in fields as diverse as optometry, ceramics, horticulture, fashion, forestry, and maritime training. Originating in a conference held in spring 2009 to mark SUNY's 60th anniversary, the book covers the system's origins, political landscape, varied missions, the different types of institutions, international partnerships, leadership, future directions, and more. Other state systems have been studied more closely and in depth (California, Michigan, Texas), and this book is a long overdue effort to bring New York into that conversation. Edited by a past interim chancellor of the system, and two SUNY history professors, and with a foreword by current chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, this book is essential for anyone who has a stake in public higher education in New York state, or indeed, public higher education anywhere.
Acknowledgments

Foreword
Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher

Introduction: Taking Stock of New York’s State University after Six Decades

I. A Guided Tour through SUNY’s First SixDecades

II. Twenty-Seven Ways to Understand SUNY

1. The Empire State Creates a University

Introduction
Sanford H. Levine

I. Shared Goals, Different Politics, and Differing Outcomes: The Truman Commission and the Dewey Commission
Philo Hutcheson

II. Forging SUNY in New York’s Political Cauldron
Tod Ottman

III. The Temporary Commission Surveys Bias in Admissions
Harold S. Wechsler

2. The Building Blocks of SUNY

Introduction
Douglas R. Skopp

I. SUNY Oswego: From Recovery and Refugees to Re-Invention and Revival
Tim Nekritz

II. Rescuing the State Teachers College from History’s Scrapheap
Kenneth P. O’Brien & W. Bruce Leslie

III. “A Touch of New England in Western New York”: The Transformation of SUNY Geneseo
Wayne Mahood

IV. From Schools of Agriculture to Colleges of Technology: A Century of Evolution
Joseph Petrick

3. Varied Missions in America’s Largest “Comprehensive University”

Introduction
Christopher C. Dahl

I. The College of Environmental Science and Forestry and SUNY: A Unique Relationship
Hugh O. Canham

II. SUNY Maritime College: A History
Maryellen Keefe

III. Why a University Press Should Be and Must Be Relevant
Gary Dunham

4. Community Colleges: Emergence of an Educational Giant

Introduction
Dennis Golladay

I. A Retrospective View of the Westchester Community College Experience
Marjorie Glusker

II. The Pioneers Speak: Voices from the Early Years of the SUNY Community Colleges
Benjamin J. Weaver

5. SUNY Strides onto the National Research Stage

Introduction
John W. Kalas

I. Presidential Leadership, Change, and Community: SUNY-Buffalo from 1966 to 1981
Patricia A. Maloney

II. Documenting Research at SUNY University Centers: A Comparative Approach
Nancy Diamond

III. Better Late Than Never: Intentions, Timing, and Results in Creating SUNY Research Universities
Roger L. Geiger

6. The Best Laid Plans

Introduction
John Aubrey Douglass

I. James Bryant Conant and the Limits of Educational Planning in California and New York
Wayne J. Urban

II. Three Historical Moments: Contested Visions of the State University of New York
Henry Steck

III. An Assessment of the Recommendations of the NYS Commission on Higher Education
John B. Clark

7. “Diversity”—Demography, Culture, and Education for a Changing New York

Introduction
Pedro N. Cabán

I. Changing Demographics and Representational Dilemmas: Latinos at SUNY and CUNY Meeting the Diversity Challenge
José E. Cruz

II. Creating Educational Equity: A Brief Look at the History and Development of the SUNY EOCs and EOP
Carlos N. Medina & Jeffrey Scott

8. SUNY in and of the World

Introduction
James Ketterer

I. SUNY’s Strategic Role in International Higher Education
Karla Back

II. SUNY from an English Perspective
John Halsey

9. The View from the SUNY Tower: Two Chancellors Look Back

I. Historical Vignettes of SUNY: A Personal Sampling
Clifton R. Wharton Jr.

II. The

Sujets

• Local history
• History of education
• Region
• Tertiary education
• History of the Americas
• Education
• Regional

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438433042
• Langue: English

Extrait

SUNY at Sixty
The Promise of the State University of New York

Edited by John B. Clark, W. Bruce Leslie, and Kenneth P. O'Brien

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2010 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, address State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Kelli W. LeRoux
Marketing by Fran Keneston
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
SUNY at sixty : the promise of the State University of New York / edited by,
     John B. Clark, W. Bruce Leslie, Kenneth P. O'Brien.
          p.     cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
     ISBN 978-1-4384-3303-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)—
ISBN 978-1-4384-3302-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
     1. State University of New York–History.
2. Higher education and state–New York (State)—History. I. Leslie, William Bruce.
II. Clark, John B. III. O'Brien, Kenneth Paul.
LD3839.S86 2010
378.747–dc22
2009046609
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to the SUNY family of students, faculty, staff, and administrators past, present, and future; who embody that special academic community of which we are so proud to be a part.
We especially want to remember Martin L. Fausold and Sanford H. Levine, two distinguished colleagues and pioneers of SUNY history. Hopefully, this book will serve as a fitting legacy to their memory.

Acknowledgments
This book culminates two decades of hard work by SUNY faculty and staff to sustain the mystic chords of memory that bind us across this massive educational enterprise. In the late 1980s, Professor Martin Fausold of Geneseo assembled volunteers from across SUNY to start preserving our history—just when the founding generation was leaving us. He ignited a fire that briefly burned brightly, then smoldered, and finally burst into flame at a conference celebrating SUNY's 60th Anniversary at the University of Albany on April 3–5, 2009. Professor Fausold did not live to see this consummation of his work, but he would have taken particular satisfaction from the participation of SUNY's newly-appointed chancellor, Nancy Zimpher.
We were delighted that two former chancellors of SUNY, Clifton R. Wharton Jr. and D. Bruce Johnstone, addressed the conference and have revised their comments for this book. We also valued the presence and remarks of former chair of the Board of Trustees, Donald Blinken, and the current chair Carl T. Hayden.
The “SUNY and the Promise of Public Higher Education in America” conference, with over sixty presentations in twenty sessions, plus two keynotes, was a tribute both to the system and to the loyalty of so many who have shaped it. But there was also the “tough love” of academic analysis, especially by the six distinguished historians of higher education whom we brought from outside SUNY to keep us honest.
We would like to have included all of the conference presentations in this book, as well as the insightful comments of moderators and commentators, but demands of space required selection, which we based on thematic development and balance. However, we are delighted that SUNY Press is making the other contributions available online at www.sunypress.edu . We thank all of the nearly 100 conference participants, as well as 200 attendees for making the conference memorable.
Staff from SUNY System Administration and the University at Albany turned a potential logistical nightmare into three smoothly-orchestrated and very productive days. In particular, we thank Curtis Lloyd, Yvette Roberts, Maggie Clairmont, Zulaika Rodriguez, and Bill Hedberg who were with us through the whole process. Ben Weaver, Pierre Radimak, and Carol Donato, among others, stepped in during the frantic run-up to the conference and played essential roles. We also thank President George Philip of the University of Albany and SUNY Provost Risa Palm for making their staff available and providing important guidance. The president of the SUNY Faculty Senate, Carl Wiezalis, provided support from the conception of the conference. We thank the members of the Program Committee, especially Henry Steck, Jim Ketterer, and Geoff Williams. Professor Douglas Skopp of Plattsburgh was with us at critical moments.
Beyond the customary thanks to a book's editors, we owe a deeper debt to Gary Dunham and Jane Bunker of SUNY Press. They attended the conference and then inspired us to assemble this volume with their commitment that our university press serve the SUNY community.
Through the years leading up to the conference, successive administrations at Brockport and Geneseo offered support far beyond kind words that kept the project alive.
Finally, we thank Carolyn Clark, Tessa Harding, and Diane O'Brien for their love and support, offering this volume as compensation for those long periods when the conference and the book manuscript took us away mentally and physically.
Foreword
Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher
It was my great good fortune to attend the conference celebrating the 60th anniversary of the State University of New York in April 2009, two months after being appointed the twelfth chancellor of SUNY, and two months before I would begin my service. As a result, I was automatically thrust into the process of looking back at SUNY's history while being captivated by the process of looking forward.
This exercise is critical, not only for the benefit of the historical record and for an infusion of scholarship on SUNY's history; it is also a necessary step in the process of authoring SUNY's future.
The conference and this chronicle of its proceedings are a testament to SUNY's breadth and depth of scholarly and historic resources. Not insignificantly, this book is also perhaps an instant classic for students of SUNY's fascinating political history.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the chapters written by former Chancellors Clifton Wharton and Bruce Johnstone were particularly relevant to my own daily questions and long-range plans; I especially appreciate Bruce's valuable perspective that many of today's problems were also yesterday's:
And while each time has its own special challenges—and the current ones are genuinely formidable—I suspect that the ones that Clifton Wharton and I faced and the ones looming before Chancellor-elect Zimpher have more in common than in difference. Many of these challenges are deeply rooted in SUNY's history, and this is why we must learn from each other and why this scholarly conference on SUNY's history is so important.
To that end, each of the authors offers a unique piece of SUNY's historical puzzle, and each is a valuable contribution to this compendium.
For me, the headline that rises to the top of these twenty-seven essays is the fact that widespread outrage over ethno-religious discrimination gave birth to SUNY (with help from Governor Thomas Dewey's political aspirations). The level of political pressure and the accelerated level of demand after World War II led to a situation in which SUNY's creation became inevitable.
That SUNY was born, in large measure, of a movement to end discrimination and provide equal educational opportunities is no small footnote of history. Indeed, this mandate to offer high quality, accessible, affordable higher education to all New Yorkers—and others around the nation and the world—remains central to SUNY's mission. I believe we are meeting that mandate with great success.
As more than one contributor to this collection acknowledges, it is an unwieldy task to assign a single identity to a system with 64 campuses, 7,669 degree programs, 87,000 faculty members and 440,000 students. But if one were required to assign a singular identity, its watchword would be diversity .
This is not a new phenomenon. As Cliff Wharton writes in his essay of recollections, “capitalizing on SUNY's rich diversity was my first vision.”
That's why, true to its roots, SUNY's diversity is its identity and its stock-in-trade. My new favorite SUNY metaphor is one penned by Joel Rosenthal in his essay on college histories of SUNY campuses: “That string of jewels on the glittering necklace of SUNY.” Each campus sparkles on its own, but as a whole, SUNY possesses a value far greater than the sum of its parts.
We have focused a great deal of attention on diversity of students, not just from a wide array of ethnic and racial backgrounds, but from across the globe, and this initiative is central to raising SUNY's profile around the world, simultaneously gathering greater resources and preparing students for the global economy in which we live.
But we need to be careful not to become complacent and satisfied that our diversity is in and of itself enough. We need to find a way to capture and leverage those relationships by building connections that form a functional diversity.
We have achieved excellence—to a degree that it is no longer accurate to call SUNY higher education's best-kept secret. The word is out. That is why we are seeing enrollments climb at an astounding rate. But how do we