President Deborah F. Stanley

Dick Shineman met his wife, Barbara Palmer Shineman ’65, M ’71 at Oswego, and together they became two of our college’s staunchest advocates. As Oswego faculty members, both taught generations of students, he in chemistry and she in education. Over the years their roles on campus grew and evolved, their bond to the institution only strengthening as they moved into retirement and stayed active with the Oswego Alumni Association, Emeriti Association, Oswego College Foundation and a wealth of campus activities. Their generosity as donors is as yet unmatched and reached a pinnacle recently with the largest single gift in our college’s history.

A few months after Dick Shineman passed away in 2010, we broke ground on our new science complex. Next fall we will open this marvelous facility — the Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation. When our history and our future come together in this way, it is a magical, radiant moment. I invite you to share in this special moment and take inspiration from what you read here of the two Shinemans — their devotion to education and to a bright and robust future for SUNY Oswego.

As I write this, 10 faculty members from our School of Business have just departed for Turkey, where they plan to make new professional connections that will down the road benefit our students. This is just one example of the kinds of projects going on in this dynamic school, which we feature in this issue of the magazine with stories reviewing its 20-year development and profiling one of our most accomplished business alumni, Bob Moritz ’85.

President Deborah F. Stanley

SUNY Oswego recently received our most positive Middle States reaccreditation review in memory (see p. 3), and our School of Business radiates the sense of vibrancy and success you would expect from a vital part of our strong institution. Commitment to students, internships, field experience and service — these are areas that shone in our institution’s reaccreditation review, and they are all particular strengths in our School of Business.

The external team of evaluators appointed by our accreditor commended Oswego for our culture of assessment, and our business school in many respects led the way on campus in marshaling metrics to guide academic planning and development. They commended us for our international programs, and our business school is in the forefront of establishing dual degree programs with Chinese universities, bringing international scholars to campus, leading entrepreneur research abroad and exploring new opportunities for overseas partnerships. They commended our capital improvements, and, indeed, the renovation of Rich Hall as a home for our School of Business was one of the first big successes in our ongoing campus-wide renewal program.

We have recently launched the SUNY system’s first multidisciplinary cooperative education program, and accounting in the School of Business was our pioneer. The school’s MBA program joins hands with other disciplines on campus to offer five-year joint degrees, the newest to win approval involving Oswego’s renowned broadcasting program.

The School of Business partakes of the vigorous, can-do spirit that permeates SUNY Oswego and that characterizes so many of our alumni, as you can see in stories throughout this issue. Enjoy!

Deborah F. Stanley

President

Now we are embarking on a new era of faculty/student collaboration. Oswego professors share their labs and studios with current undergraduates who contribute substantively to scholarly and artistic pursuits, and often present the results alongside their professors at conferences around the country and the world. Academic departments create capstone experiences to help students put their classroom learning into action. We have sought out external funding to help undergraduates study abroad. According to the Provost’s Office, we achieved a 23 percent increase in faculty-led student undergraduate research experiences during the 2010-2011 academic year, thanks in part to the donor-funded Summer Scholars program. We have also seen a 45 percent increase in campus grants to students for research and creative activity.

These types of opportunities are at the heart of the Oswego experience, and we are proud to make them possible for our students.

Deborah F. Stanley
President

President Deborah F. Stanley

In Sheldon’s day, it meant teaching the poor children of Oswego and training teachers to go out across our nation and the world to share the message of learning by doing. His vision of hands-on learning would transform the education system of not just New York state, but places as far away as Hawaii and Japan.

Today we take the founder’s dream to heart, and Oswego students have the chance to apply their classroom learning with practical experiences like the SUNY System’s first multi-major cooperative education program, where students gain real world experience and build valuable career networks. Our Global Laboratory gives Oswego students the opportunity to influence the world, working alongside scientists in Brazil, Taiwan and the Congo.

It’s hands-on learning and a global reach Sheldon himself might well devise if he were alive today, and I think he would be proud.

Deborah F. Stanley

President

We’re giving undergraduates unforgettable research experiences in our new Global Laboratory programs in Brazil and Taiwan and forging partnerships with other universities around the world.

But the occasion of our Sesquicentennial anniversary — many of you got a taste of the yearlong celebration at Reunion in June — reminds us that Oswego has long been an innovative, exciting school, achieving much of significance — not the least of which was providing you, our cherished alumni, the educational foundation on which to build your life.

We have been an important provider of public higher education in this region for 150 years and, early on, acquired an international reputation for educational innovation. I hope you will follow our anniversary celebration as it unfolds through next spring — in this issue of the magazine, in a documentary video series on the college’s history and at a Founder’s Day campus celebration in October. The roots of our vigorous educational enterprise are indeed deep, and they nourish our efforts to ensure that our college is even stronger in the future.

Deborah F. Stanley
President

You know something strange is going on when you read a headline like “SUNY students press for tuition increases.”

At Oswego, we have been on a wonderful trajectory in so many ways — expanding in the sciences, creating innovative arts events, enriching our region’s workforce and cultural sphere, engaging schools and businesses in fruitful collaboration, renewing our campus with state-of-the-art facilities, thrilling fans with athletic prowess, partnering with researchers and educators around the globe, and offering our students world-class opportunity as they interact with our faculty and our alumni.

The path our college is on is a tremendous source of encouragement for our students and pride for our alumni.

Yet we all know that we need revenue to continue to be the vibrant and innovative college that you read about in every issue of this magazine and witness with every visit to campus.

Still suffering from the recession, New York is not providing sufficient resources for SUNY: If the latest round of cuts (on the table as I write) go through, Oswego will have been cut $11 million over three years. At the same time, our tuition is artificially low, the lowest in the Northeast.

Our students recognize that the quality of their education and their future are imperiled by this state of affairs. Hence the headlines, as the Student Assembly joins SUNY’s friends in calling for a five-year tuition plan with increases that are fair and predictable.

As someone who values the experience you had at Oswego and who wishes to see current and future students reap the full benefits that an Oswego education should afford, you can help us achieve revenue
solutions by advocating for your alma mater at every opportunity.

I ask you to step back and picture the kind of New York you want to live in — confident, robust and radiant, offering opportunity to all our citizens. SUNY is indispensable to this vision, which is why your support for us now is so important.

Deborah F. Stanley, President