State University of New York:: College at Oneonta (Campus History)

The campus of the State University of New York, College at Oneonta covers two hundred-fifty acres and overlooks the Susquehanna River Valley in the western foothills of the Catskill Mountains. Founded in 1889 as the Oneonta Normal School with the mission of training teachers, the college became a charter member of the state university system in 1948. Its mission diversified through the years as it served the changing needs of the people of New York State. The college offered its first bachelor's degree program in 1938, its first graduate program in 1948, and its first full range of programs in the arts and sciences in 1964. Today, as a liberal arts college with a preprofessional focus, Oneonta enrolls more than five thousand six hundred students in over sixty undergraduate majors and nine graduate programs. This intriguing visual history documents the development of an exceptional institution of higher learning. State University of New York, College at Oneonta begins with the people who helped establish the college and examines the impact that establishment had on the community. The book profiles the faculty and shows the rooms and buildings in which they taught over the years. It looks at students in all phases of campus life-in the dormitories, at study, in sports, and on stage. The book offers a complete picture of a college noted for its outstanding and accessible faculty, students committed to both academic achievement and community service, distinguished alumni, and beautiful campus.

David W. Brenner, Ph.D., is an alumnus and associate vice president emeritus at the college. A retired faculty member, he also served previously as chair of the county legislature and mayor of the city of Oneonta. His unique perspective, his devotion to the college, and his knowledge of the region make State University of New York, College at Oneonta a highly valuable and readable study of the college from its founding to the present day.