State University of New York

History

The nation’s largest comprehensive public university system, The State University of New York (SUNY), was established in 1948. Since its founding, the SUNY system has evolved to meet the changing needs of New York’s students, communities, and workforce. SUNY initially represented a consolidation of 29 unaffiliated institutions, including 11 teachers colleges. All of these colleges, with their unique histories and backgrounds, united for a common goal: To serve New York State.

Today, the system includes 64 schools, a mix of 29 state-operated campuses and five statutory colleges—including research universities, liberal arts colleges, specialized and technical colleges, health science centers, land-grant colleges—and 30 community colleges. These institutions offer programs as varied as ceramics engineering, philosophy, fashion design, optometry, maritime studies, law, medical education, and everything in between. The University also operates hospitals and numerous research institutes. 

SUNY is embedded in virtually every community in New York State: Remarkably, 93 percent of New Yorkers live within 15 miles of a SUNY campus, and nearly 100 percent live within 30 miles. In many communities, SUNY is also the region’s largest employer. While SUNY students are predominantly New York State residents, hailing from every one of the state’s 62 counties, the University also draws students from every other state in the United States, the District of Columbia, four U.S. territories, and 160 nations from around the world. One out of three New York State high school graduates choose SUNY, and the total enrollment of nearly 445,000 full-time and part-time students represents 37 percent of New York State’s higher education student population. SUNY also employs 88,000 faculty and staff and counts more than 3 million living alumni, residing in New York State and throughout the world.

SUNY attracts the best and brightest scholars, scientists, artists, and professionals and boasts nationally and internationally recognized faculty in all major disciplines. Faculty are regular recipients of prestigious awards and honors.

The State University of New York is committed to serving as the state’s strongest economic and quality-of-life driver and providing quality education at an affordable price to New Yorkers and students from across the country and the world.

Mission

The mission of the state university system shall be to provide to the people of New York educational services of the highest quality, with the broadest possible access, fully representative of all segments of the population in a complete range of academic, professional and vocational postsecondary programs including such additional activities in pursuit of these objectives as are necessary or customary. These services and activities shall be offered through a geographically distributed comprehensive system of diverse campuses which shall have differentiated and designated missions designed to provide a comprehensive program of higher education, to meet the needs of both traditional and non-traditional students and to address local, regional and state needs and goals. In fulfilling this mission, the state university shall exercise care to develop and maintain a balance of its human and physical resources that:

  • recognizes the fundamental role of its responsibilities in undergraduate education and provides a full range of graduate and professional education that reflects the opportunity for individual choice and the needs of society;
  • establishes tuition which most effectively promotes the university's access goals;
  • encourages and facilitates basic and applied research for the purpose of the creation and dissemination of knowledge vital for continued human, scientific, technological and economic advancement;
  • strengthens its educational and research programs in the health sciences through the provision of high quality general comprehensive and specialty health care, broadly accessible at reasonable cost, in its hospitals, clinics and related programs and through networks and joint and cooperative relationships with other health care providers and institutions, including those on a regional basis;
  • shares the expertise of the state university with the business, agricultural, governmental, labor and nonprofit sectors of the state through a program of public service for the purpose of enhancing the well-being of the people of the state of New York and in protecting our environmental and marine resources;
  • encourage, support and participate through facility planning and projects, personnel policies and programs with local governments, school districts, businesses and civic sectors of host communities regarding the health of local economies and quality of life;
  • promotes appropriate program articulation between its state-operated institutions and its community colleges as well as encourages regional networks and cooperative relationships with other educational and cultural institutions for the purpose of better fulfilling its mission of education, research and service.