State University of New York at Oswego facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego)

Motto	To Learn, To Search, To Serve
Type	Public college
Established	1861; 163 years ago (1861)
Parent institution	State University of New York
Endowment	$44.1 million (2020)
President	Mary C. Toale (Officer in Charge)
Academic staff	1,039
Students	7,636 (fall 2020)
Undergraduates	6,673 (fall 2020)
Postgraduates	963 (fall 2020)
Location	Oswego, New York , U.S.
Campus	Rural, 696 acres (282 ha) and 46 buildings on the shore of Lake Ontario
Colors	Hunter green and gold
Nickname	Lakers
Affiliations	SUNY

State University of New York at Oswego (SUNY Oswego or Oswego State) is a public college in the City of Oswego and Town of Oswego, New York. It has two campuses: historic lakeside campus in Oswego and Metro Center in Syracuse, New York.

SUNY Oswego was founded in 1861 as the Oswego Primary Teachers Training School by Edward Austin Sheldon, who introduced a revolutionary teaching methodology Oswego Movement in American education. In 1942 the New York Legislature elevated it from a normal school to a degree-granting teachers' college, Oswego State Teachers College, which was a founding and charter member of the State University of New York system in 1948. In 1962 the college broadened its scope to become a liberal arts college.

SUNY Oswego currently has over 80,000 living alumni. Oswego State offers more than 100 academic programs leading to bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and certificates of advanced study. It consists of four colleges and schools: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Business, School of Education, and School of Communications, Media and the Arts.

Campus

Campus as viewed from Glimmerglass Lagoon

Founded in the city of Oswego by Sheldon to train teachers to meet pressing educational needs, the college moved to its current location on the shore of Lake Ontario in 1913 after Sheldon Hall was constructed. The current campus is located on 690 acres (2.8 km²) along Lake Ontario. Development of the campus was planned by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who designed the major buildings.

The campus today consists of 46 buildings with classrooms, laboratories, residential and athletic facilities. Recent years have witnessed the launch of a $700 million campus-wide renovation and renewal program, with the new Campus Center acting as the social hub of campus.

Shineman Center for Science, Engineering, and Innovation.

Marano Campus Center Complex

The college's new social hub, known as the Marano Campus Center Complex, which opened in the fall of 2007, includes new construction and renovation of the existing Swetman/Poucher complex. The $25.5 million 111,492-square-foot (10,357.9 m²) Marano Campus Center portion, the new construction, includes the Deborah. F. Stanley Arena and Convocation Hall, food court, box office, fireplace lounge, breakfast nook and reservable spaces. The renovated portions of the building house The Compass (student services), The Point (student involvement), a student media center with WNYO, WTOP and The Oswegonian newspaper, Copy Center, and Freshëns Cafe. Academic departments in the Campus Center include English and creative writing, modern languages and literatures and philosophy, while the Office of Learning Services stands ready to assist students who need help outside the classroom. In addition, the College Honors Program is located in the Campus Center.

The Tyler Art Gallery

Within Tyler Hall is the Tyler Art Gallery. The gallery showcases local and traveling exhibitions, exhibitions of faculty work and student exhibitions. Tyler Art Gallery has a mission as a teaching gallery, which means that it is regularly used by the students and faculty at SUNY Oswego as the interface for direct encounters with original works of art of professional quality. The gallery serves as the training base for the museum studies program and allows students to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the gallery. The Student Art Exhibition Committee curate and have sole responsibility for the annual exhibition of student work. Tyler Art Gallery's permanent collection comprises European, African and American drawings, prints, paintings, ceramics and sculpture that date from the 18th century to the present, including several works by artist Sasha Kolin. One subsection of the permanent collection, the Grant Arnold Collection of Fine Prints, contains over 500 prints by American printmakers from the first half of the twentieth century. Tyler Hall is in the process of significant renovations, with the first phase completed for a fall 2016 reopening.

Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation

In the fall of 2013 the outdated Science and Mathematics building, Snygg Hall, was closed, and the new Richard S. Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation was opened to all STEM students: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The building, built onto the older Piez Hall, offers views of the college's Lakeside Community and Lake Ontario from the meteorology observation deck.

Other buildings

The SUNY Oswego campus is located on the shore of Lake Ontario. This image was taken outside of Waterbury Hall.

Physically separate from the main campus, on the other side of New York State Route 104, is the south campus, consisting of Laker Hall (indoor sports, coaching classrooms, and athletic training rooms), Romney Fieldhouse (a Quonset hut that hosted the Laker hockey program until fall 2006) and several athletic fields. In addition, more than 400 acres (1.6 km²) of Rice Creek Field Station (for biological research and public programs) are on the South Campus.

West Campus, along with Laker Hall, Hewitt Hall (which hosted most of the student organizations until the Campus Center's opening in 2006), Tyler Hall, Culkin Hall (the administrative building), Penfield Library, Lanigan Hall (consisting of large lecture halls) and Mahar Hall are all built in the Brutalist style and date to the early 1970s.

On Campus residences

A variety of living options are available through 13 residences:

• Lakeside Area: Scales, Waterbury, Riggs and Johnson Halls. Riggs, Scales, Waterbury and Johnson were recently renovated; the latter is the home to the First-Year Residential Experience.
• West Campus, formerly called "New Campus": Cayuga, Seneca, Oneida and Onondaga Halls. Onondaga Hall was constructed in a suite style, allowing communal living of up to six students per suite.
• Main Campus: Hart Hall Global Living and Learning Center, Funnelle Hall, Sheldon Hall
• Mackin Complex: Lonis and Moreland Halls, located in the city of Oswego across the street from Sheldon Hall. Lonis consists of single occupancy rooms for upperclassmen, while Moreland is the traditional double occupancy dorm style for all class standings.
• The Village: townhouse village with apartment living

A famous view: approaching sunset over Lake Ontario from the SUNY Oswego campus.

Due to a shortage in residential rooms in Fall 2008 caused by greater enrollment and on-campus living requests than expected, several rooms were offered in renovated conference/hotel space in Sheldon Hall. The Village, a new townhouse village with apartment living was constructed south of Glimmerglass Lagoon, and opened in the fall 2010 semester. Students with 57 credits who are enrolled full-time, and have lived on campus for a complete semester (as a transfer student) or three semesters (entering Oswego as a freshman), are allowed to live there. All town homes in the Village come with their own washer and dryer as well as a full size refrigerator.

Fewer than 100 feet (30 m) from Johnson Hall is Shady Shore, the home of college founder Dr. Edward Austin Sheldon. It often has served as the residence for the college president throughout the years.

Accreditations

Middle States accredited with additional accreditations. The institution's MBA program has been internationally accredited by AACSB. SUNY Oswego's School of Education is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. Oswego's School of Business has international accreditation by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. SUNY Oswego is one of the few colleges in New York state whose art, music, and theater departments are all nationally accredited.

Schools and colleges

Sheldon Hall

• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Houses the following departments: Anthropology, Atmospheric and Geological Sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, English and Creative Writing, History, Human Development, Mathematics, Modern Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Criminal Justice, Sociology
• School of Business
  • Here, students can pursue degrees in the following areas of study: Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Human Resource Management, Marketing, Operations Management and Information Systems, Risk Management and Insurance
• School of Communication, Media and the Arts
  • Houses the following departments: Art, Communication Studies, Film Studies, Music, Theatre
• School of Education
  • Houses the following departments: Counseling and Psychological Services, Curriculum and Instruction, Education Administration, Health Promotion and Wellness, Technology, Vocational Teacher Preparation

Library

Penfield Library is an academic library that supports the instructional, research and service goals of SUNY Oswego, one of 64 campuses of the State University of New York. It is named after Lida S. Penfield (1873–1956), once chair of the English department. The current 160,000-square-foot (15,000 m²) facility opened in 1968, replacing a library of the same name in what is now Rich Hall. The library is home to the Millard Fillmore and Marshall Family Papers and numerous digitized collections including the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter (Safe Haven) and the Millard Fillmore papers.

Penfield librarians provide research help for SUNY Oswego students through "Ask a Librarian" services via chat, e-mail, phone, and texting, in person, and through extended appointments with subject librarians. The library also has a writing center that is opened from 9 AM -10 PM, with professional writers and trained writing student assistants that help students edit and write their papers.

Athletics

The university offers 24 intercollegiate varsity sports. SUNY Oswego's athletic teams are known officially as the Great Lakers but often referred to simply as the Lakers. Oswego is a member of NCAA Division III and teams compete in the State University of New York Athletic Conference for most sports. Women's ice hockey plays in the ECAC West, as that sport is not offered by the SUNYAC.

Oswego is traditionally a rival of Plattsburgh State. The rivalry currently manifests mostly in ice hockey; in the 1990s and early 2000s, Oswego fans would regularly throw bagels onto the ice when the Lakers scored against Plattsburgh, responding to a tradition where Plattsburgh fans threw tennis balls on the rink after goals versus Oswego. The tradition ended in 2006, after Oswego was assessed a delay of game penalty for the bagel throw: Plattsburgh scored on the ensuing power-play to win the game, which cost the Lakers a national tournament berth. In addition, the Campus Center arena was opened that year which allowed the university to more closely monitor and shut down fans who brought in bagels. The "Puck Flattsburgh" spoonerism is a common rallying cry. Oswego and Plattsburgh also had a rivalry in football, but Oswego ceased sponsoring the sport in 1976, with Plattsburgh following in 1978.

Oswego also has a running rivalry with Cortland State in Women's Field Hockey. The teams play annually for the "Dragon Sword" trophy, donated by Oswego alumni Michael and Kimberlee (Bennett) Champitto in 1999. As of 2021, Oswego has never won the sword.

National championships

On March 18, 2007, the Oswego State men's ice hockey team won the 2006–07 NCAA Division III ice hockey National Championship, the first NCAA championship ever for the school.

Clubs and student organizations

Oswego has over 180 clubs and organizations, many funded by the Student Association. These include: the Division I Men's Rugby team, the student-run television station WTOP, the student-run newspaper The Oswegonian, the first-ever student-run volunteer ambulance corps (SAVAC), a collegiate-level synchronized skating team, the student-run radio station WNYO-FM, nationally competitive cheerleading, community service clubs, political organizations, the Shaun Cassidy Fan Club Improv Comedy Troupe, club baseball, and Oswego Women's Rugby. There are also groups that appeal to those with specific interests or hobbies, such as ALANA which includes the Black Student Union, the Latino Student Union, the Asian Student Association, the Caribbean Student Association and the African Student Organization. Other groups include the Financial Management Association, the Investment Club, the Christian groups BASIC (Brothers and Sisters in Christ) and CCM (Christian Campus Ministries), the Oswego State Pagan Association, a Muslim Student Association, the Pride Alliance (formerly the Rainbow Alliance; SUNY Oswego's only LGBT organization), the theater group Blackfriars, the Story Tellers' Guild (anime, geek, and gamer club), Oswego State Esports Association (formally the League of Legends Club: featuring competitive teams in League of Legends, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Overwatch, Hearthstone and Pokémon), Chess Club, the Pro-Wrestling Club (PWC), College Republicans, and the local chapter of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.

Greek organizations

Oswego has an array of Greek organizations (fraternities, sororities, or mixed) from both national and locally recognized chapters. Each semester, eligible students can "rush" a Greek organization of their choice.

Fraternities

• Kappa Sigma
• Theta Chi
• Delta Kappa Kappa (DKK)
• Delta Sigma Phi
• Zeta Chi Zeta
• Lambda Sigma Upsilon
• Psi Phi Gamma
• Phi Beta Sigma
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon
• Tau Kappa Epsilon
• Phi Iota Alpha
• Mu Beta Psi
• Alpha Phi Omega (APO)
• Sigma Tau Chi
• Sigma Gamma
• Lambda Upsilon Lambda

Sororities

• Alpha Delta Eta
• Alpha Epsilon Phi
• Alpha Sigma Chi
• Omega Phi Beta
• Omicron Xi
• Phi Lambda Phi
• Phi Sigma Sigma
• Sigma Delta Tau
• Sigma Lambda Upsilon
• Mu Sigma Upsilon
• Delta Phi Epsilon
• Kappa Delta Phi N.A.S.

Other Greek organizations

• Alpha Phi Omega, national service fraternity (co-ed)
• Beta Alpha Psi, accounting/finance/information systems honor society (co-ed)
• Beta Beta Beta, national biological sciences honor society (co-ed)
• Beta Gamma Sigma, international AACSB business honor society (co-ed)
• Delta Phi Alpha, the national German honorary society for outstanding students of the German language (Nationale Deutsche Ehrenverbindung; Oswego Chapter: Zeta Xi, 1967)
• Lambda Pi Eta, national communications honor society (co-ed)
• Mu Beta Psi, national honorary musical fraternity (co-ed)
• Omicron Delta Epsilon, national economics honor society (co-ed)
• Omicron Delta Kappa, national leadership honor society
• Phi Kappa Phi, national all-disciplinary honorary society of academic excellence
• Pi Delta Phi, the national French honor Society for academic excellence in French (Oswego Chapter: Theta Delta, 1975)
• Pi Sigma Alpha, national political science honor society
• Psi Chi, national honor society in psychology
• Phi Alpha Theta, national honor society in history

Traditions

• Bridge Street Run – The Bridge Street Run is a pub crawl that now takes place during the spring semester on the last Friday before finals week. Students put on white T-shirts, start at the Front Door Tavern on East 10th and Utica Streets, and make their way down Bridge Street (New York State Route 104) in Oswego. They stop at all participating bars along the way on or within a block of Bridge Street to have their shirts signed. The event has been a tradition in various forms at SUNY Oswego for over 30 years. The college officially discourages the practice. ..... However, students still continue the tradition each spring.
• QUEST – Quest is a symposium dedicated to sharing the scholarly and creative pursuits of faculty, staff and student of the State University of New York at Oswego. Students usually work in collaboration with faculty mentors in preparation of their projects. The series also features a keynote speaker who discusses a topical issue in a field such as technology, science or politics. There are no classes before 5pm on Quest Day, which falls on a Wednesday in early to mid-April.
• Torchlight Ceremony – Every year on the night before commencement day, the university holds the Torchlight Ceremony to honor each year's graduates and pass candlelights as "passing the torch." A representative of each year's graduate of SUNY Oswego is invited to this event to pass the torch. In addition to this, the new freshman class partakes in a Torchlight Ceremony of their own on the night of "Freshman Move-In Day" in August.
• OzFest – This new annual tradition is held on the last day of classes during the spring semester in May. Students enjoy carnival-like activities on campus to celebrate the conclusion of the academic year, and to relieve stress before finals week. The festival culminates with a concert that is held in the Marano Campus Center. The concert typically features known-artists. It has been theorized that OzFest was partially planned to give students another option to consider before partaking in Bridge Street Run, which has been officially banned by the City of Oswego, as stated above.
• LakerFest – This is a festival that has typically been held on a weekend during the month of September. It can be described as a "mini OzFest" in the sense it is not as popular as OzFest, and there is no concert in addition to the festival being smaller in general.
• Family and Friends Weekend - This annual celebration welcomes the families and friends of Oswego State students to campus in order to experience a taste of the college and surrounding community. The tradition has been celebrated for over two decades. Many of the local restaurants and businesses hold specials and sales over the weekend.
• White-Out Weekend – White-Out Weekend refers to the highly anticipated rivalry matchup between the Oswego State Men's Hockey team (Lakers) and the SUNY Plattsburgh Men's Hockey team. Students will line up in the Marano Campus Center as early as 3 to 4 hours in advance of the game, and tickets are often sold out. The Lakers will typically play the SUNY Potsdam Men's Hockey team as well either the night before, or the night after, and is also a White-Out game. The Women's team plays their own respective game as well.

Presidents

• Deborah F. Stanley (10th) 1995-2021
• Stephen L. Weber (9th) 1988-1995
• Virginia Radley 1977-1988
• James E. Perdue 1965-1977
• Foster S. Brown 1952-1963
• Harvey M. Rice 1947-1952
• Ralph W. Swetman 1933-1947
• James C. Riggs 1913-1933
• Isaac B. Poucher 1897-1913
• Edward Austin Sheldon 1861-1897

Notable faculty

• Rob Auler, concert pianist, Piano Professor, http://www.robauler.com/
• Soma Mei Sheng Frazier, author, editor:https://www.subnivean.org/ Creative Writing Assistant Professor, https://somafrazier.com/
• Doug Lea, current Interim Chair of Computer Science
• Roy Lichtenstein, pop artist; taught in the Art Department 1958–1960
• Sir Kenneth O. Hall, Governor-General of Jamaica (Feb 2006 – Feb 2009); served as Assistant Provost and Professor of History at Oswego
• Robert O'Connor, Associate Professor in Creative Writing Department; author of Buffalo Soldiers
• Mary Toale, Officer in Charge, Communication Professor
• Leigh Allison Wilson, author and Creative Writing professor

Notable alumni

Actor Al Lewis claimed that he attended the school from 1927 to 1931. Most of Lewis's claims about his early life are widely considered to be untrue.

name= Robert "Robes" Kirrane year= 1981 Founder and CEO of www.BOATSFSBO.com

See also

In Spanish: Universidad Estatal de Nueva York en Oswego para niños