A rededication ceremony at 3 p.m. on Arbor Day -- Friday, April 29 -- will celebrate and chart a path forward for the college's Centennial Arboretum on Washington Boulevard.

In 1961, then-college President Foster Brown and Mayor Ralph Shapiro dedicated the area around Moreland Hall on Washington Boulevard between Sheldon Avenue and Sixth Avenue as the Centennial Arboretum to celebrate the 1861 founding of the Oswego Primary Teachers' Training School by Edward Austin Sheldon. Seventy four organizations were the original supporters of the Centennial Arboretum, memorialized on a brass plaque which graces the east wall of Moreland Hall. 

Last October, the SUNY Office for Sustainability and Rice Creek Field Station collaborated with the Oswego Tree Stewards to replant the Centennial Arboretum with a group of students, staffers and community members who committed to resurrect the arboretum. The existing 20 trees, originally planted in 1961 on the Washington Boulevard plot, were supplemented with an additional 21 trees on Oct. 24.  

Since then, the Centennial Arboretum has attained  arboretum accreditation through the ArbNet program, an interactive, collaborative, international community of arboreta and the only global initiative to officially recognize these projects based on a set of professional standards.

On Arbor Day, SUNY Oswego Officer in Charge Dr. Mary Toale will rededicate the Centennial Arboretum in a ceremony planting three additional trees and introducing the Centennial Arboretum to the Oswego community. 

It is anticipated that the Centennial Arboretum will be a valuable resource educating new generations about the importance of trees as a valuable resource to trap carbon and re-oxygenate the atmosphere. New trees planted at the Centennial Arboretum will be selected with characteristics sensitive to climate change and opportunities for permaculture and urban orchards for the Oswego area.  

Members of the original donor group, the college and Oswego community are invited to celebrate the rededication, the accreditation and Arbor Day with the Arboretum Committee.   

Contact the Sustainability Office at 315-312-6601 or sustainability@oswego.edu for more information.