SYRACUSE — Economic development and job creation will remain priorities for State University of New York (SUNY) campuses in the years ahead, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher says. Zimpher was in Syracuse March 5 for the SUNY Central New York Regional Showcase at the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel. Representatives from eight area SUNY colleges staffed displays […]
SYRACUSE — Economic development and job creation will remain priorities for State University of New York (SUNY) campuses in the years ahead, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher says.
Zimpher was in Syracuse March 5 for the SUNY Central New York Regional Showcase at the Sheraton Syracuse University Hotel. Representatives from eight area SUNY colleges staffed displays in the hotel’s conference center, outlining projects and initiatives at the schools.
A five-year tuition plan that passed last year and legislation committing the state to maintain financial support for SUNY campuses at prior-year levels go a long way toward providing the system with stability, Zimpher says. The tuition plan would allow campuses increases of $300 annually for the next five years.
And, Zimpher notes that the NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program, also launched last year, will help make SUNY campuses even larger economic engines than they are currently.
The program aims to make SUNY a leading catalyst for job growth throughout the state and strengthen the academic programs of its university centers.
“These are not programs that are going to go away,” Zimpher says.
Last year’s NYSUNY 2020 phase-one grant program included up to $140 million in funding and targeted university centers at Binghamton, Albany, Buffalo, and Stony Brook. Each campus was eligible for up to $35 million in funding through the program.
The schools were required to submit detailed economic and academic plans and the funds were to be integrated with the governor’s Regional Economic Development Councils and administered by Empire State Development.
Zimpher says she sees potential from more clusters around the state like SUNY Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering NanoTech Complex. The facility has attracted partner companies from around the world and even led to new nanotech plants in the region.
Life sciences, energy, and high-performance computing are all areas of strength at SUNY schools that could lead to similar clusters around the state, Zimpher says.
“Those are four areas that could really put New York on the map,” she says.
During the showcase, local SUNY presidents stressed the reach the schools already have in the region. The eight campuses at the March 5 event have a total enrollment of more than 40,000 students, SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley said.
Combined, the schools have an economic impact of $2 billion on the region. Along with SUNY Oswego, Cayuga Community College, SUNY Cortland, Empire State College, the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), Onondaga Community College, Tompkins Cortland Community College, and SUNY Upstate Medical University were the other campuses represented.
“We bring people into this region to study and work with us,” Stanley said. “We combine our strengths.”
ESF President Cornelius Murphy noted that SUNY’s reach extends around the world. ESF has 57 research projects ongoing outside the U.S., he said, and at least one on every continent.
The Syracuse event was the seventh of 10 SUNY showcases around the state. Statewide, SUNY’s 64 campuses have more than 468,000 students enrolled in 7,500 degree programs.