SUNY Oswego graduate donates $2 million to the university

OSWEGO, N.Y. — A 1958 graduate of SUNY Oswego has donated $2 million to the school.

The gift from Frank Maraviglia is “in recognition of the exceptional education he earned at the university that helped him lead a fulfilling life as an educator,” SUNY Oswego said in its announcement.

Maraviglia spent 35 years as a professor of architectural landscape at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

The donation advances SUNY Oswego’s Vision 4040, an initiative that college President Peter Nwosu launched this year. It seeks to “increase upward mobility and strengthen” regional economic development in Central New York by doubling the number of SUNY Oswego graduates to 40,000 per decade by the year 2040.

The funding establishes the Maraviglia Education Enrichment Fund in the university’s School of Education. The fund will support scholarship and engagement opportunities for students as well as innovative academic programming from the faculty, SUNY Oswego contends.

In recognition of the donation, SUNY Oswego will name the School of Education’s main entrance between Wilber and Park halls the Maraviglia Atrium. The SUNY board of trustees approved the naming at its full board meeting on Dec. 5.

“Mr. Maraviglia’s generosity will make an enormous impact on the lives of our students and help produce more qualified teachers to address the teacher shortage in our K-12 school system and contribute immensely to the talent development needed to further advance economic development in Central New York,” Nwosu said. “We are deeply grateful for this transformative gift.”

Maraviglia said he is “honored to have his name in such an awe-inspiring space on campus,” per the school’s announcement.

“If you look up my name, you’ll see that it means ‘to wonder,’” Maraviglia said. “My hope is that in this atrium, students will wonder about and dream about their future. I am very humbled by the particular spot that will carry my name. But what’s important in all of this are the students. I believe in the students.”