SUNY BEST event on Sept. 4 to discuss college towns, including Binghamton

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — The SUNY Business and Education Cooperative of the Southern Tier (SUNY BEST) on Thursday, Sept. 4 will host a discussion called, “College Towns: Boston, Berkeley… & Binghamton?”

The event will be held at 10 a.m. in room 220 of the Binghamton University Downtown Center at 67 Washington St. in Binghamton.

Kevin E. Drumm, president of SUNY Broome Community College, will kick off this fall’s speaker series, which focuses on how expanding higher-education institutions are shaping and redefining Greater Binghamton and Broome County. He will discuss how college towns have for centuries sprung up organically around the country, according to a Binghamton University news release. Drumm will also show how, beginning late in the 20th century some communities intentionally set out to build college towns as an economic and community development strategy.

Notable among them are Storrs, Conn., and Las Vegas, Nev. Today UCONN and UNLV are mentioned in the national lexicon of great university towns. The discussion will touch upon how leaders might design the Greater Binghamton region to join these ranks, the news release stated.

Drumm became the seventh president of SUNY Broome in 2010, after serving six years as president of the Northern Wyoming Community College District.     

This presentation is free and open to the public.

Pre-registration is required through the SUNY BEST website at http://ceo.binghamton.edu/sunybest.