Introduction - SUNY Cobleskill

1 Introduction
The State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill
celebrates its one hundredth anniversary in 2016. What follows is a not so much a history, as a
tracking of the changes in the college over the years as told by those who lived it. Those
changes have been remarkable:
the College, which began as an experimental alternative
secondary school with a very narrow mission, was designed to appeal to young men who
dropped out of high school and were interested in agriculture. Now, one hundred years later, it
is a comprehensive college granting both associate and bachelor degrees in agricultural
business, agricultural engineering, animal science, applied psychology, biotechnology,
business, communications, culinary arts, early childhood, environmental technology, financial
planning, fisheries and wildlife, graphic design, information technology, and plant science. What
began with one building and eight students now has over 70 buildings and 2500 students.
What is also remarkable is that with all of the changes over the years—some more dramatic
than others—and with all of the disparate voices telling the story, a consistent sense of mission
is evident. One is the concept that instruction and learning must combine the practical “hands
on” with the theoretical; so what began as an experimental alternative to high school became a
college with intensive “hands-on” experiences for students in all its curricula, and when the first
bachelor degree program was created, it included an intensive semester long fifteen credit
internship.
This concept of “hands-on” has now been adopted by higher education as
“experiential” education and more institutions across the nation require it.
Another common theme that runs through the retrospectives is that the students’ futures are
first and foremost; faculty are there to prepare students, so individual attention is paramount;
and finally, the writers recognize that an institution must change to meet the needs of the times,
and change is a constant in Cobleskill’s history. In spite of the many difficulties with budgets,
2 threatened closings, and external resistance to changes in focus, the College moved forward
with the support of all of those who have believed in its mission.
The Early Years 1916-1948
The Schoharie State School of Agriculture was originally created for young men who were not
interested in completing high school—it was, in fact, an early example of what is now BOCES. It
was an experiment, and one that the state was willing to invest in, to the point that the tuition
was free, and potential students had only to show completion of eighth grade and be sixteen
years old. Five years later, in 1916, students entered what was then named Main Hall—now
Frisbie Hall, after Daniel D. Frisbie, resident of Middleburgh, Speaker of the Assembly, and chief
supporter of the new school. While it recently cost the college 6 million dollars to rehab Frisbie
Hall, less than $100,000 was needed to buy the land, build Main Hall, and furnish classrooms
and labs. Dr. Halsey P. Knapp was hired to be the first Director. His words, written in 1976,
give the best picture of the beginning of the State School, and, for that matter, of the times. His
recollections introduce themes that are to follow the college through its 100 years: willingness
to experiment and change; personal attention to students; commitment to the education needed
for the workplace:
I arrived in Cobleskill in early 1916. Senator Arden Norton and Trustee Clint Down met me at
the D&H station and took me in a buckboard to the site of the new school. It was a small hill
rising from the valley. One building, now Frisbie Hall, stood there, bare, with plans of the
architect and builder scattered across the floors. Outside were piles of raw earth and large
boulders which had been excavated in the building process. The views toward the village, down
the valley toward Richmondville and across Route Seven to the Ekerson farm were
commanding. The mud pulled the rubbers off my shoes as we walked about.
3 I cannot tell just how or why, but after going back to Ithaca and talking to my wife and others,
I decided to come. Such a school, such a type of education was a gamble, not well understood
or accepted at the time. I felt it had a place and that I should like to have a part in the venture.
....
We were scheduled to open in September. I know now that this was a mistake. We needed a
year to furnish and equip, gather staff, and become better known. But we were all in a hurry.
The project had been delayed a long time. We plowed ahead.
....
School opened with eight students, yes, eight.
I cannot name them now, but I would
recognize the names at once if I heard them. One, Donald Myers, was the son of Morgan
Myers, one of Schoharie’s best farmers, and this encouraged me very much. A local farmer told
me that we did not have enough students to care for the bull.
Students either commuted or lived in homes in the village. I could name many of these
homes. Dr. LeRoy Becker looked after the medical needs, for a very small fee, and in some
cases, no fee. You see, he was interested, too.
But these were war years. The whole world was aflame. Soon our country was involved, not
just in terms of supplies, but with our men overseas. New schools had to wait—the war could
not. Rogers and Judd enlisted. Rogers did not come back. He was shot down while flying a
discarded French plane over the German lines. I attended the service for him at Chelsea, a
quiet country village a few miles from Canandaigua and near the farm where I was born.
During the war I was asked by the New York State Commissioner of Agriculture to assume
responsibility for the distribution of seed, fertilizer, etc. to farmers in eastern New York State. It
was an important assignment because the food supply had to be maintained, even increased.
4 ....
Gaps were filled as best we could. Soon incomparable Calla King came in Teacher Training.
Later in English and as Librarian Genevieve Hageman in Home Economics, and others.
I
hesitate to name them; it is so easy to miss some who should be included. Yet surely, Howard
Curtis, Earl Hodder, Emmons Day, Harry Bauder, Orrin Smith, George Gregory must be
mentioned. A special mention to Helen Chapin and Ray Wheeler.
...
At the first Commencement, each graduate participated—I think there were six or seven—by
making a five minute statement. I had worked diligently with them and took almost as much
pride in their performances as did their parents. It was held in the auditorium on the second
floor of Frisbie Hall and was a great occasion.
....
Enrollment had increased gradually, not dramatically. This type of education had still not
been fully accepted. There were sacred cows about—the feeling that nothing in education
could be fully validated unless it had come from the old world via the Mayflower. All this has
changed, as my readers know well, changed beyond the dreams of those early years. There is
a special flavor to being charter members of a significant undertaking.
The Forward to the Fifty Year publication ends with the same themes:
The most significant thing about any college is not its ever-increasing enrollment, its
burgeoning building program, its proliferating course offerings, or even its growing alumni
association. These are but visible proofs of a more vital measure of its effectiveness: its
flexibility—its willingness to adapt itself successfully to the changing needs of its constituency.
The fifty years during which this College has offered instruction to the youth, first, of Schoharie
5 County, and then, of the State, Nation, and other nations have been years of continuous and
vigorous change. This book, commemorating as it does those fifty years, seeks to be a record
of those changes.
Facilities
The facilities are the physical representation of the college, and the means by which the growth
and the diversity of a college are most immediately evident. The authors of the Fifty Year
Anniversary history note the early growth, primarily in the first ten years:
When the first students entered Frisbie Hall in 1916, they entered what was then the entire
campus physical plant. . . By spring the dairy barn had been completed, the first herd
purchased, and the original poultry house finished. . . . In the summer of 1918 the Dairy Building
(Alumni Hall) was completed at a cost of $35,000, and in the fall of 1920 the Home Economics
Building, the construction of which had been delayed by the war, was officially turned over to the
College. Within a year, the basement of the building had become a cafeteria, remaining so until
the opening of Prentice Hall in 1963.
dormitory.
The upper floor, now classrooms, was a woman’s
Greenhouses and additional small storage and service building constituted the
essential campus construction between 1921 and 1926.The Gymnasium Building was the last
major instructional facility constructed until 1958. It was a relief to move the physical education
classes and the basketball team from the second floor of Frisbie Hall. The area then freed has
gone through a succession of uses: classroom, lecture hall, meeting room, theatre, library study
room, and music rehearsal room. Also completed in 1926 were the tool sheds surrounding the
courtyard in front of the Horse Barn, proudly remembered because the major part of the
construction was done by students in Farm Mechanics.
It must be noted here that faculty, staff and students were all part of building and taking care of
the campus (it gives new meaning to the concept of “experiential education). Former faculty
6 member Helen Chapin Wheeler, a faculty member from 1920-1925 (and wife of later president
Ray Wheeler), writes in a reminiscence publishes in the 1976 issue of the Alumni News:
Campus life was a challenge to both faculty and students. Each one did his or her share of
labor (then called cooperative work) in connection with class study. I can see Howard Curtis on
his knees carefully smoothing the concrete sidewalks on the old quadrangle; and the students
working in the one barn, in the fields and in the cafeteria (seating about 75). There was always
a desire to achieve and produce—for example entertaining faculty guests and Chapel speakers
in the little Home Economics dining room a little more elegantly than the group before. There
was pride in contributing beauty to our campus in the form of shrubs, walks and lawns.
In the 1930’s, the farm expanded to property across Route 7, in 1945 selling off land that later
became the P&C and then college property, and now part of Agway’s expansion. At the same
time, they purchased Shafer farm on which the Agriculture complex, including the new Center
for Agriculture and Natural Resources and new dorms now sit.
There were no residence halls in the early years, as noted by a rueful Avery DeLuca, class of
1929, in a piece he wrote for Reflections at 75, a publication put out for Cobleskill’s Diamond
Jubilee Celebration in 1991:
There were no dorms in 1929. Students roomed at homes in the village. The “shoe leather
express” was our sole means of transportation from the village to the college. Our meals were
prepared at the school cafeteria on campus, so students “enjoyed” plenty of exercise as they
trekked from the cafeteria to their rooms. Many boys used to supplement their noon meals with
a quart of homemade ice cream, as students majoring in Agriculture honed their skills making
ice cream as part of their instruction in utilization of milk. Ten cents purchased a quart of real
ice cream that served as an appetizer for the noon meal at the cafeteria.
7 Academics
The growth in the physical campus was, of course, a mark that the academic offerings were
expanding at the same time. Several themes become clear both through the selection from the
fifty year anniversary immediately below as well as from the reminiscences of faculty and
students:
The College’s academic program has consistently developed along three guidelines: the
professional needs of its students, the evolving requirements of agriculture and industry, and the
desire to educate for living as well as for earning a living. In 1916, the College’s aim was to
provide instruction to young people who, uninterested in the college preparatory course which
was the curriculum of most rural high schools, were leaving those schools before graduation.
The early years were one of experimentation in both program length and offerings. The original
agricultural courses were augmented in 1919 by the first work in Home Economics in what was
“essentially a homemakers’ course”: as well as by courses in Farm Engineering and Vegetable
Gardening. By that same time, the academic year had been shortened from nine to six months
so that students might spend more of the early fall and late spring at home where they were
needed. This alteration necessitated the lengthening of the college course from two to three
years. In 1920, Home Economics became a one-year intensive course designed to provide
training both for the home and business world, and the following fall, with the opening of the
cafeteria in the basement of the Home Economics Building, a major in Cafeteria Management
was started.
In September 1922, a one-year course in teacher training was begun, and the first of the 380
teachers to enter the field with a thorough understanding of the needs of rural youth began her
study. . . .
8 The year 1923 was significant for several reasons. Administrative control was shifted from
autonomy by the local Board of Trustees to joint responsibility between the Trustees and the
State Department of Education, The Commissioner of Education replacing the Commissioner of
Agriculture as the ultimate authority. Under his control, the College became the New York State
School of Agriculture. More important was the decision to raise both the College’s standards
and its entrance requirements. . .
The years from 1923 to 1941 were years of growth and change and brought the College’s next
significant upgrading of its programs. In 1926, the Teacher Training course became two years
in length. The Home Economics program was made a two-year course in 1931, and at about
this time classes in both Agriculture and Home Economics were sectioned according to whether
or not students were high school graduates. When the Teacher Training course shifted to the
State’s Normal Schools in 1933, offerings in Home Economics were increased to include majors
in General Home Making, Food and Nutrition, Institutional Management, and Child Care; the
first campus Nursery School was opened to provide practical training in the latter.
Experimentations in program length were continuing, with curriculums eventually settling into a
pattern in which non-high school graduates were attending three-year programs and high school
graduates were attending two-year programs.
In addition, one-year short courses were
available for special students. In 1938-39, in line with a 1937 ruling of the Board of Regents
which gave Institute status to the School and placed it on a post-secondary level, all curriculums
became two years in length. By this time the Agriculture Division had grown to include majors in
Livestock Production, Fruit Production, Crop Production, Poultry Husbandry, Agricultural
Business, Farm Equipment Sales and Service, and Dairy Industry.
In 1941, acting on the 1937 ruling of the Board of Regents, the Legislature placed the College’s
program on a post-secondary level.
It was a logical move, for high school instruction in
Vocational Agriculture and Home Economics, begun in the early 20’s, had become so prevalent
9 that the College’s function was clearly to move its students away from the general training it had
been offering and toward the higher degree of specialization demanded by an increasingly
complex society. Alterations in course titles and increased programs reflect these changes. In
1944, Farm Equipment Service and Sales became Rural Engineering.
By 1950 it had
developed into Agricultural Engineering, and finally, in the late ‘50’s, into Agricultural
Engineering Technology. Dairy Industry, as it became more technical in nature, was renamed
Dairy Technology. Ornamental Horticulture, as the need for increased specialization increased,
evolved into two curriculums, Floriculture and Nursery Management.
Animal Husbandry,
recognizing the growing interest in livestock other than dairy cattle, offered concentrations in
both dairy and beef. Agronomy appeared as a major field in 1944. In the Home Economics
Division, changes were equally apparent. Course offerings became less general in nature as
emphasis shifted from providing training for the home to that of equipping students to enter
vocational areas at the technical and middle management levels.
Most indicative of this
changing emphasis was the abandonment of the Home Economics Division in 1963 and the
creation of two separate divisions in Food Service Administration and Nursery Education.
Student Life and Athletics
Although the College began as a substitute for high school, it began early implementing a full
slate of activities—many of which persist in other forms today--as noted in the Fiftieth Year
publication:
Traditionally, the College’s interest in its students has extended beyond the classroom. From
the original basketball team in 1916 there has developed a wide variety of intercollegiate sports.
. . . One sport, football, appeared briefly between 1928-33. The team, although undermanned,
compiled a 17-22-4 record during its brief existence. . . .
10 Student publications can be traced back to 1921.
In April that year the College’s first
newspaper was circulated. Called the “Voice,” it became a monthly publication in November
1923. In the spring of 1923 the first of an unbroken line of College yearbooks, also named the
“Voice,” was issued. . . .
Student government has been an important part of the College since the founding of the
Boys’ Student Council in 1923. Charged then, as now, with the regulation of student conduct,
its members undertook their jobs seriously, as one early report indicates: “The Council then set
about the task of enforcing Freshman rules. A few offending Freshmen were given terms in the
barn and poultry house but this did not seem to appeal to them so they soon learned the rules
and obeyed them.” Increased enrollment of women students necessitated the formation of a
complementary organization three years later. . . .
Fraternal life dates to 1923. In that year the Epsilon chapter of Theta Gamma was founded.
Zeta Alpha Phi, Beta Chapter was installed in 1934. . . .
The first evidence of interest in the performing arts was indicated by the creation of the
School Orchestra in 1925. A photograph of an early dramatic production appears in the 1930
“Voice.” The Grange League Degree team was extremely successful from 1928 to about 1937.
The first College glee club was organized in the fall of 1929. In 1930, the forerunner of several
organizations devoted to improvement in public speaking and debate, the Parly-Pro Club, made
its appearance.
Student and Faculty Voices
Following are selections from faculty and student recollections written for the 75th anniversary.
They echo familiar themes that will recur throughout this publication. The first is by Avery
DeLuca, Class of 1929 and one of the few men in the teacher training program. He later
became principal of Sharon Springs Central School:
11 The one-year teacher training program was a memorable experience for me. I learned more in
that one year of education than in the entire four years of additional advanced education. Our
instructors spent many hours inculcating us with the basic skills of “how to teach,” while my
subsequent instructors seemed more enamored with theories and philosophies of “what to
teach.” These standards served graduates well as they coped with the problems of teaching.. . .
Our professional education was indeed a most valuable experience. We had little free time
and a full schedule of classes and homework. This type of schedule was essential, as within a
nine-month period we were being groomed to accept a position as teacher in a one-room rural
school. . . .
It might be of interest to note that the school fielded a football team as well as a basketball
team.
We were transported to and from our away games in Model T Fords, as buses
apparently were beyond the athletic budget. The lack of funds was evident as the football team
played their six games in uniforms donated by Union College. They should have donated some
touchdowns, as our total scoring for the season was achieved by intercepting an opponent’s
lateral pass. What a series of disappointments we must have been for our coach, Mr. Edmund
Moot. He still merits sympathy cards!
Our basketball team brought a bit more joy to our coach, Mr. Ray Wheeler, as we were a bit
more competitive. Prof, as he was affectionately called, was a unique coach, as he spent most
of the half-time periods checking on the physical condition of his players. Although he probably
enjoyed athletic victories, his primary concern was for the health and welfare of his players.
A second recollection was from Pauline Hostash Schmidt, Class of 1931, also in the teacher
training program.
She agrees with Avery DeLuca about the intensity of the education at
Cobleskill, and about the value of the extracurricular program:
12 There were four buildings then, one on each side of the quadrangle on top of the hill, and
shade trees on the lawn sloping down to the highway. It was to those four buildings that about
one hundred of us eager country kids came in 1930 to further our education so we could make a
living. In the words of Director Lee Crittenden, “Some young people are progressives as is
shown by making the most of life, by preparing for it. . . .”
That year there were twenty-four enrolled in the Ag program. Those students learned farm
management, animal husbandry, poultry raising, horticulture and cattle judging. The thing we
remember most about the Dairy Building [Alumni Hall] was the ice cream that was made there
once a week and sold for about 25 cents a quart. Only six were enrolled in the Home Ec class.
These students, under the guidance of Miss Margaret Prentice, learned dressmaking and
cooking skills. We were privileged to taste some of their gourmet delights at parties and in the
cafeteria. . . .
Miss Hodgdon and Miss Biles taught classroom management and child psychology. We
were required to know the curriculum for each grade almost verbatim. In the spring we did our
practice teaching.
Those two teachers rode many miles over rutty roads to observe our
teaching and offer constructive criticism. To be honest, some of it was not so constructive.
They ran a tight ship. Most of us who went on to earn higher degrees agree that we learned the
fundamentals of teaching right in Cobleskill’s Training classes.. . .
The college year passed quickly and graduation found most of us with jobs for the next year in
town or country schools and on farms.
Lucille Porter Clark, Class of 1941, was unusual in that she was a female student in the
agriculture curriculum. Her recollections remark on the care the faculty had for students, as well
as the expectation that students work on campus.
13 Hands-on experience varied from barn duty for dairy students to pruning and spraying the
orchard for some of us. We were less interested in this hands-on business when it came to
“Beekeeping,”
but Mr. Earl Hodder was so enthusiastic about his subject that we donned
protective equipment and learned the basics. For one class we all walked with Mr. Hodder to
his home on Clinton Circle where he proudly showed us his apiary and served us honey on Ritz
crackers. A small kindness, but one that remains in memory all these decades later as a
pleasant one.
....
One of our assignments in Agricultural Engineering was to lay a new concrete sidewalk from the
Gym building to Frisbie under the supervision of Mr. Howard Curtis and Mr. Collyer. There may
have been a few glitches in the finished product, but we were pleased to be doing something to
benefit the campus.
....
The College in the late thirties-early forties had meager facilities compared to those of the
eighties. But dedicated faculty managed to give us an excellent preparation for the job market
of those years.
And then William L. Barton, Class of 1943 ends his recollection with the highest praise a
college—and college president--could ask for with these words:
I appreciate my fellow man and the environment around me as a result of having attended
Cobleskill.
And the one man who influenced my life more than anyone else was Ray L.
Wheeler. His home was always open to all the students and Mrs. Wheeler would have open
house for students to come and members of the faculty would take turns helping with the
greeting at the monthly gathering.
14 And as fortune would have it, Helen Chapin Wheeler was not only the wife of a future president
of the college, but a faculty member from 1920-1925, and her recollections for the 75th
anniversary reinforce a simpler time:
There were few cars, so those of us living in town were very thankful to Calla Louise King
(Teacher Training) and her Model T Ford, Dr. Day (Head of Agriculture), Mr. Browning (Dairy
Industry) and Dr. Pease (Then Veterinarian part-time) for rides.
There was no overhead
crossing over the 4-lane tracks of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad, which offered 3 or 4 trips
daily between Albany and Binghamton, and the long freight trains had to be dodged so as to get
to classes on time.
The courses offered inspiration, vocational competence and social adjustment in the
classroom, in the laboratories, in the one dormitory for girls (two rooms in the Home Ec building)
and in the delightful community.
Campus life was a challenge to both faculty and students. Each one did his or her share of
labor (then called cooperative work) in connection with class study. I can see Howard Curtis on
his knees carefully smoothing the concrete sidewalks on the old quadrangle; and the students
working in the one barn, in the fields, and in the one cafeteria (seating about 75). There was
always desire to achieve and produce—for example, entertaining faculty guests and Chapel
speakers in the little Home Economics dining room a little more elegantly than the group before.
There was pride in contributing beauty to our campus in the form of shrubs, walks and lawns.
There was little chance to go home and little leisure time because the weekends were full of
activity: basketball games, a party where faculty and students alike shared their talents or a
dance, which required redecorating and rearranging furniture in the big room (known as the
auditorium) in Frisbie. Here Chapel was conducted regularly, as were student body meetings,
Voice staff meetings, etc. The Student Government organization was kept busy giving fines and
15 restrictions for not cooperating and breaking rules. A few sample rules: in the dorm, lights had
to be out at 10:10, except on Friday and Saturday when they could remain on until 10:30. Men
could be entertained in the living room Friday and Saturday from 7:30 to 10:10; Sunday, 2:00 to
5:00 and 8:00 to 9:45 p.m. Girls could go downtown in groups of two or more; after 6:p.m., a
chaperone was required.
While Helen Wheeler presents a picture of college life quite unlike that of the present day,
Carleton Wright, who was Director from 1944 to 1947 writes of issues that sound very familiar to
a modern Cobleskill, both in getting needed state funding and meeting the current community
needs:
During the early forties enrollment dwindled as young men were drafted, making it difficult to
carry on the program of the school. Help was hard to find. The faculty and staff were of high
caliber, but with few students interest and enthusiasm flagged. There were budget problems as
well because the budget and finance office in Albany had to be convinced that even with low
enrollments there was still a significant need for financial support. Fortunately, we were able to
persist in establishing relations with that office and gradually we received increased financial
support.
Certain interesting emergency programs were inaugurated in support of the war effort. For
example, a community canning center was established on the Hill to assist in supplementing the
restricted food supply. This was of great significance in adhering to the strict rationing of food.
Another interesting emergency program instituted was the farm labor crash training of
Newfoundlanders. Brought into New York State to help alleviate the great shortage of farm
labor, they were assigned to Cobleskill and to other centers.
....
16 There is no occupation so rewarding as association with students.
It was difficult saying
“Goodbye” to the student body, student leaders, the faculty and staff, and friends, all of whom
had been so supportive and caring during our tenure in Cobleskill. Ray Wheeler became the
next Director.
This was a wise and fortuitous appointment by the Board of Visitors.
The
success of Cobleskill College was eminently apparent, as I observed from a post with the
American Vocational Association in Washington, D.C., and later in New York City and Ithaca
with Cornell University.
The Middle Years: 1948-1985
In these 37 years, there were enormous changes at the college. It was, in fact, the era of the
greatest change, in every area: the number of students, the number of buildings, the footprint of
the campus, and the transition into a state college offering associate degrees. Probably the
most immediately visual message of growth was through the buildings constructed in these
years and primarily between 1962-1972: Animal Husbandry, Beef Housing, Brickyard Point,
Beard Wellness Center, Champlin Hall, Curtis-Mott, Davis Hall, Dix Hall, Draper Hall, Equine
Training Center, Fake Hall, Farm Storage, Fish Hatchery Building, Horse Barn, Hodder Hall,
Knapp Hall, Van Wagenen Library, Meat Processing, Parsons Hall, Pearson Hall, Prentice Hall,
Porter Hall, Ryder Hall, Bouck Hall, Mackey Service Building, Ten Eyck Hall, Vroman Hall,
Warner/Holmes Hall, Wheeler Hall, Wieting Hall. It is in fact when the present footprint of the
campus was established—and most amazingly, within a ten year span.
It was during these years that Cobleskill began to excel in athletics, winning conference
championships in Men’s and Women’s Cross Country, Men’s Soccer, Women’s Swimming,
Women’s Track and Field, Men’s Baseball, and Men’s Lacrosse. They won NJCAA Regional
Championships in Men’s Outdoor Track and Field, Men’s Tennis, Men’s Lacrosse, Men’s Cross
Country, Men’s Basketball and Men’s Wrestling. Most significantly, they won NJCAA National
17 Championships in Men’s Cross Country, Women’s Field Hockey, Women’s Nordic Skiing and
Men’s Nordic Skiing.
It was also a time when the College implemented a chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, thanks to
Dr. Elbridge Smith, and theater, thanks to Distinguished Teaching Professor, John Grosvenor.
It was a true embrace of a college culture. It was also the time when Cobleskill’s major service
club, Orange Key, was established. This club truly exemplified the spirit of the College as
students were nominated by faculty and staff, not on just on scholarship (they had only to be in
good standing), but on their service to the college and the community.
But this section begins with a true picture of where the college was at the beginning of these
years as captured succinctly by Albert “Nick” Iorio in the 75th publication, harking back to his
arrival at the campus in 1948 to become a coach:
4. The campus back then consisted of four main buildings, a veterans’ complex that housed
married students and some faculty and staff, a dairy barn, and some auxiliary buildings. The
Gym (now the Grosvenor Art Center) was approximately 45’ x 75’. There was a tennis court (2
courts) overgrown with weeds.
There was no formal library and no place for students to
congregate before, between and after classes.
5. There were about 185 students then—some of whom weren’t high school graduates. The
emphasis was in Agriculture—to train them to go back on the farm; in Nursery Education—to
train them as teachers for nursery schools; and in Foods—to train them to become cafeteria
supervisors and work in the foods industry.
6. On the hillsides surrounding the Quad and on a section of the flatlands where the present
athletic fields are located was an orchard. The rest of the flatlands was a pasture for the cattle.
It was painful to watch the cattle go almost straight up to the Dairy Barn from the pasture.
18 7. There were minimal to non-existent athletic facilities in 1949. The gym was a band box;
baseball was played in a pasture.
By the end of Nick Iorio’s thirty five year tenure at the college, 1983, he was to see a campus
that had added about 45 buildings, including plenty of spaces in which students could
congregate, new dairy barns so the animals did not have to climb hills, and new athletic fields—
and a new gym. By that time also, the student numbers grew to about 2500.
While the college experienced significant change in every other aspect, one stabilizing force
was the lack of turnover in leadership. President Wheeler, who was appointed upon Director
Wright’s resignation, served from 1946 until his sudden death in1961. He was followed by an
interim, Dr. Charles Gaffney, and then by Dr. Edward Sabol, 1962-1966 and finally by
Cobleskill’s longest serving President, Dr. Walton Brown, 1966-1985. Fortunately, there were
submissions by all except Dr. Wheeler—whose years were summed up by Dr. Gaffney—for the
75th commemoration. These recollections serve as an excellent summary of the changes taking
place. During the “Wheeler Years,” the college took one of its most significant steps: The State
Education Department awarded the right to grant Associate of Applied Science degrees, which
were, at the time, considered to be terminal degrees. While these were originally granted in
Agricultural Production, Agricultural Service and Home Economics, by 1959, the College had
added Business Administration, Secretarial Science and Accounting.
The Wheeler Years: 1946-61 by Charles M. Gaffney
The College’s enrollment in 1946 was approximately three hundred, and over two thirds of
the students were World War II veterans. The educational programs consisted of curriculums in
Agriculture, Food Service Administration and Nursery Education. There were twenty-one faculty
members and four classroom/laboratory buildings (Frisbie, Home Economics, Dairy Science
and the Old Gym) and one of these buildings—Home Economics—was devoted almost entirely
19 to a women’s residence hall and a college cafeteria.
The campus and farm land totaled
approximately one hundred acres.
In 1950 when enrollment dropped to less than 200 partially because of the Korean War, it
became very apparent that if the institution were to survive, more demand for its programs had
to be shown.
Community colleges were being established throughout the State, and high
school graduates were given many more alternative opportunities to enroll in two-year
curriculums nearer their homes.
At that time, the administration of Cobleskill was being
pressured to expand its offerings to include many new technical programs. Wheeler resisted
this expansion and, as history has shown, wisely chose instead to strengthen the existing
curriculums as well as to establish the Business Division.
Some of the other institutions
because of their diversification weakened their programs and by 1960 Cobleskill’s curriculums in
Agriculture, Food Service Administration and Early Childhood far excelled those of similar
institutions. The very fact that Cobleskill today [1990] has the only Bachelor of Technology
program in agriculture in the State is largely due to this farsighted wisdom in the 1950’s.
However, the battle was not over and the years during the 1950s were critical for the future
of the College. The college community was very much aware that because of low enrollment
and the State’s relatively small investment in buildings and land at the Cobleskill campus
(assessed valuation was $200,000), the College could easily be closed and its students and
curriculums transferred to some other institution. In addition, the State bore only one third of the
cost of educating a student at a community college as compared to the full cost at Cobleskill.
In 1956 the State University suggested quite emphatically that all of the agricultural and
technical colleges become community colleges.
It was, however, quite evident that the
community colleges were located in areas of greater population and that Schoharie County with
its very small population could ill afford to support a college.
20 . . .. .
Eventually, the University offered to construct buildings at a cost of four million dollars and
then turn the sponsorship of the campus over to the County. However, due to the tireless
efforts of Wheeler, the College Council (chaired by William Spenser) and the faculty, the State
agreed to continue sponsorship of Cobleskill. This was the most crucial decision ever made
with respect to the well being and future of the College.
During this period Wheeler had reportedly submitted to the University justification for
additional buildings and equipment and by the time of his untimely death in 1961, when the
enrollment had almost tripled over the 1946 level, the State had approved the construction of
Vroman and Wieting residence halls, Prentice Dining Hall and the Wheeler classroom and
library building.
....
The name of the College was changed again in the 1950s. From the original Schoharie
School of Agriculture it underwent five changes to reflect its evolving education programs, and
in 1957, to the great satisfaction of all, it was renamed the State University of New York
Agricultural and Technical Institute at Cobleskill.
The 1950’s was also a period of expansion and consolidation. The Business Division was
established in 1956, which provided an added opportunity for local high school graduates to
attend college near home. Curriculums in Poultry Husbandry and Pomology, because of low
student enrollment, were phased out and transferred to other ag/techs, and the orchards
surrounding almost the entire campus were removed. As the college continued to grow and
develop, the original 100 acre campus failed to meet the needs.
More land was needed,
especially for athletic fields, which at that time were non-existent, and for increased agricultural
21 laboratories. Therefore, the 240-acre “Shafer Farm” adjoining the campus was purchased at a
sum of $19,900.
Dr. Edward J. Sabol served from 1962 until 1966, during which he followed through on
Wheeler’s projects, including becoming accredited by Middle States, moving the College
forward becoming a true institution of higher learning.
In his review written for the 75th
Anniversary entitled “Years of Transition: From State School to State College,” he sets forward
a clear plan for the next thirty years, not just the four he presided over.:
The College’s First Accreditation
Degree-granting authority was the first step in the recognition of Cobleskill’s collegial entity in
New York State. Soon to be required would be an accreditation-type evaluation by a team of
“peers” from member institutions of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary
Schools. The Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of that organization provided
guidelines for preparation of a report for their review. . . .
Middle States Association set February 19-21 for its on-campus visit by the Evaluating Team. .
...
Those three days of activities culminated with a favorable and encouraging oral report to the
faculty by the chairman. The confidential written report would be assembled and forwarded by
late spring and the ultimate action taken by the Middle States Commission of Institutions of
Higher Learning would follow by letter. The report arrived as promised and a letter from the
Commission dated July 2, 1962, opened as follows:
“It is indeed a pleasure to report to you and to the President of the State University of New
York that, following its review of the report prepared by the Evaluation Committee, the
22 Commission has authorized me to say that if the Agricultural and Technical Institute at
Cobleskill were an independent institution, its accreditation would be affirmed.
....
Enrollment Growth and Campus Construction
The Middle States evaluation report had opened with a statement, “To say that Cobleskill is a
college in transition is a gross understatement.” The advent of degree programs resulted in a
doubling of enrollment during the ten-year period prior to the fall of 1961.
That year, 654
students registered and less than 100 commuted daily from their homes. Except for one 60-bed
dormitory for women (Ryder Hall) built in 1949 there had been no significant change in the
physical plant since 1926.
Cobleskill, a community of 3,500, was already saturated with
students living in private homes, a hotel, a motel and in houses rented or owned and operated
by the College. New teaching spaces had been developed in basement rooms of existing
buildings. Spaces not intended for instruction (e.g., the cafeteria) were being used for classes,
and off-campus school rooms and industrial space were under consideration for the same use.
It was fortunate that a commitment had already been made for the construction of two 150-bed
residence halls, a new dining hall, a classroom/library building and a student activities building.
In that enrollment would surpass the 1,000 mark by 1964 and was expected to reach 1,400
by 1970, another quantum leap forward would be required. It was initiated by the turning of a
ground-breaking shovel for the two dormitories which would be ready for students by the fall of
1962.
This was indeed a response to the dreams of gentlemen such as Frisbie, Knapp,
Crittenden, Champlin, Wright and Wheeler. The dormitories (Vroman and Wieting Halls) were
followed in succession by completion of a dining hall (Prentice), a classroom/library building
(appropriately named Ray L. Wheeler Hall) and a student activities building.
23 It was readily obvious that additional facilities would be required not only for the new highs in
enrollment but also for the various kinds of laboratory and classroom spaces needed to support
emerging technologies.
....
Needless to say, we were constantly preparing justifications for additional facilities needed
both to accommodate expanding enrollment and to introduce new technological programs. By
mid-1965 what had been a $4 million program had been raised to $14.8 million.
This was to be a campus beyond the fondest dreams we could have had five years earlier.
A complete new Ag campus was created.
Buildings, playfields—in fact, the entire “old”
campus—would be encompassed by a loop road and landscaped for the appreciation and
enjoyment of campus residents and visitors alike. And it became a “living” lab for Ornamental
Horticulture students!
,,,,
Instructional Concerns
The teaching faculty is the heart and soul of a collegiate institution.
Maintenance of a
qualified faculty is dependent on a number of factors:
•
a reasonable workload with primary emphasis on classroom teaching;
•
support for the teaching process, including supplies, equipment, library resources and
part-time assistance when required;
•
a clearly defined and understood system of ranking; and
•
a system of compensation which provides for recognition of good teaching.
24 The latter includes not only monetary rewards, salary increases and promotions but also
attendance at professional conferences and sabbatical leaves.
The ranking structure and
compensation schedule provided by the State University of New York was welcomed by the
existing faculty at Cobleskill and was instrumental in the recruitment of the additional faculty
needed as enrollment increased. The fact that we were able to recruit new faculty in sufficient
numbers and with advanced degrees and appropriate experience resulted in new instructional
techniques, revision of courses to maintain currently relevant programs, and development of
new program specializations. Undesirable class size was reduced in many cases. Freshman
English, for example, was being taught as a lecture course with as many as 60 students in a
section. Inadequate practice in both writing and speech denied our students the growth they
desired and deserved in such required courses.
Overlapping between courses (e.g., Child
Development and Human Growth and Development) was eliminated. New courses were added
in mathematics, economics and sociology.
In some divisions the elimination of duplication
across course lines resulted in the freeing up of faculty for desirable new courses. The teaching
load of division chairmen was reduced, enabling them to devote more time and effort to faculty
growth and development.
One item of contention was the transferability of courses for students who planned to
continue their education at four-year colleges. Some faculty argued that revision of courses for
transfer purposes could only result in diluting their value for the technical-terminal student.
General Education, on the other hand, felt that since a number of students were already
transferring successfully the College should make every effort to assure full transfer of credit.
My own philosophy was that while courses and programs can be neatly fenced in, students
cannot. There should be provision for their rising aspirations developed after entering college.
In my inaugural address I stated, “The goal of education should be the development of wisdom
rather than the mere accumulation of knowledge. Learning occurs whenever and wherever an
25 individual faces a problem and attempts its solution. Whether it be in a field that is general or
one that is technical is not nearly as important as the kind of thinking it develops.” That kind of
teaching develops capability for lifelong learning.
Discussion of the transfer issue resulted in faculty agreement that we needed neither to
generalize the technical-terminal courses nor to dilute courses in General Education. Further,
we found that recruiters from four-year colleges were visiting our campus with increasing
frequency. One state university outside of New York was awarding two full years of credit to
Cobleskill’s graduates. Two years later they were earning bachelor’s degrees and in three
years master’s. In-State colleges and universities took note of that kind of recognition and in
many cases our faculty was able to meet with others for mutual review of courses between
institutions. Revisions were made and any concern about diluting our course objectives soon
disappeared.
At one point as many as one-third of the graduates continued their higher
education after receiving degrees at Cobleskill. They were admitted to appropriate colleges at
Cornell; the University at Albany welcomed our Business majors; and elementary teaching
became the new “turf” for our Nursery Education graduates.
In recognition of our responsibility for community service, evening courses for college credit
were offered to meet special education needs. Starting with courses in Accounting, English
Composition and General Psychology, the program continued to grow and cement relationships
with the community at the same time. The addition of a full-time faculty member in music led to
formal courses for credit as well as performance opportunities in various choral groups and a
college-community orchestra.
....
With the appointment of a full-time Dean of Students in 1961, counseling services and student
activities received increasing attention. Although the individual who held that position [Albert
26 “Nick” Iorio] spent much of his time in the community protecting town-and-gown relations, little
did he realize that he would in retirement become mayor of the village. On campus he gave
priority to the consolidation of student services and to coordinate counseling by his staff and
teaching faculty. An orientation program was developed in cooperation with interested faculty,
administrative staff and student organizations.
Convocations had been conducted at
Cobleskill’s high school auditorium. Completion of the student activities and physical education
building [Bouck Hall] made it possible to bring those convocations back to the campus as well
as adding facilities for Little Theater, a gymnasium, bookstore, student meeting rooms, activities
offices, bowling lanes, music room and a general lounge.
....
A great deal had been accomplished, but more was to follow in the ensuing years—more
buildings, more programs, more degrees, more faculty and continued response to the
developing needs of students. The transition was on track and its continuing unfoldment could
not be denied.
Dr. Sabol was followed by Dr. Walton Brown, who has been the College’s longest serving
president—from 1966 to 1985. During this period, the College clearly matured as an institution
of higher learning, and its present footprint was established. At the same time, the Country was
facing its own transition as huge changes in social norms were occurring seemingly overnight—
and Cobleskill, like all institutions, had to adjust. In his recollection for the 75th anniversary, “Into
and Through the 70’s: The College Comes of Age,” Dr. Brown highlights both the physical and
intellectual growth of Cobleskill.
Before coming to Cobleskill, I had served in three other public junior colleges as an
instructor, a Dean and a President.
All were new community colleges.
No matter how
responsive to the educational needs of the counties and the state which sponsored them, they
27 had to be educational communities limited to commuting transients. I looked forward to working
on a residential campus.
While I was knowledgeable about business and health-related technologies as well as the
general (liberal) education curricula, I was unable to differentiate between a Guernsey and a
Charolais. I knew little of what occurred in an agronomy laboratory or what was achieved in a
course called “Nutrition II.” I had not seen a creative activities laboratory since I left graduate
school, and I could have envisioned a quarterhorse as
having some of the characteristics of a
centaur.
But in my previous positions, I had known many disadvantaged Americans whose children
needed the services of nutritionists, educated agriculturists, child-care specialists, and medical
technicians. In the mid-60’s the world faced famine and disease while Americans complained of
the cost of storing grain. We had learned to defoliate forests, but we knew little of the values of
the people who lived in them. Problems of production, marketing and distribution could be
solved only through those branches of applied science which depend on technical and
paraprofessional occupational programs of the type Cobleskill offered so confidently.
At the same time, “science without philosophy is blind” and technical education was
increasingly viewed as in need of humanities and the social sciences as much as it needed
computers and microscopes and its pathology and physics laboratories.
During my visits to Cobleskill while a candidate for the presidency, I was impressed by the
enthusiasm and the student-centered orientation of the faculty.
I had been “out of the
classroom” only a few years myself. I was attracted by the fact that the students represented
every county in the State and that the “living-learning” potential of a resident campus offered so
much more than the community colleges with which I was familiar because of the shared
educational experiences inherent in a residential setting. The disruptive and hectic days of the
28 American “cultural revolution” of the late 60’s and 70’s had not yet arrived. The Cobleskill
campus community was combining science and philosophy in a manner which might prepare
citizens for the turbulent decade of social changes which were to take place during the 60’s.
....
The three areas which were to continue to influence the evolution of the campus as an
academic community during the 1970’s and 1980’s were:
1.
Academic Quality.
Would the faculty further qualitative improvements in the
curriculum by broadening its base and diversifying its structure in a manner responsive
to contemporary societal needs?
What would be the response of this academic
community to the unprecedented “knowledge explosion” which was altering all societies
on a shrinking planet.
2. Student Life. Would the students continue to be restricted, as they perceived it, in their
potential to learn on the campus beyond the classroom? What were the relationships to
be among structure, discipline, freedom of expression and license?
3. Governance. What person or group was to “manage” the College and with what degree
of freedom and authority?
During my term at Cobleskill we struggled as a community with these questions. The fulltime student population doubled from about 1,300 students to over 2,600, while the part-time
student enrollment increased from about 230 to about 2,000 or more at times. The number of
employees increased from 316 to about 512 and then declined.
During the decade 1965-1975, the number of curriculums, options and concentrations
offered by the College more than doubled as the faculty devoted much of its energy to
modernizing and strengthening instruction. In agriculture, for example, the number of course
29 offerings increased from 60 to 109, while in business the increase was from 38 courses to 62,
and in science from 29 to 42.
As the curriculum changed, so did the roles of students in academic institutions throughout
the United States.
During my first week, in December 1966, I was visited by two officers of the Student
Government. They had a single request: Would I help them “make the Student Government
more than a social club?”
...
Many of us on the professional staff recognized that we had only a few years at best to
develop a structure which would prepare students for acceptance of the responsibilities which
would result from abolition of in loco parentis by the nation’s courts.
With some strong
reservations, the professional staff accepted the responsibility to help students create a truly
functional Student Government.
Students and faculty began “at the bottom’ working more
closely together on the immediate issues involving whether or not male students could have
beards, the necessity for dress codes, and the restrictions imposed by “time-in” regulations in
dormitories, all of which seem so remote, improbable and even a little comical today.
But learning to accept social responsibility meant so much more than changing one’s style of
dress or the freedom to travel on weekends without permission. It involved acceptance of
responsibility for budgeting student funds and for the establishment of a judicial system which
would protect the rights of all students against infringements of those rights by a few students.
“Meaningful” student government required the establishment of dormitory govenance units as
well as acceptance of responsibility for the ethical obligations of a free student press and radio
as public services to the campus community.
30 Several “governance” concerns faced the faculty in 1966.
Was the proportion of
occupational to general/liberal education offerings in the best interests of contemporary
students? Was the college using resources adequately in serving societal needs in what soon
would be called “lifelong learning”?
As a technical college, were we serving the needs of
educationally disadvantaged students? Should technical students be be released from some of
the traditionally prescribed curricula by introducing increasing opportunities for electives into
their academic programs? Would the next generation of technicians develop broader social
elective courses in the arts, the humanities, and the social sciences? Could one relate the
educational needs generated by the “explosion” of technical knowledge to the humanistic needs
of an over-populated planet capable of instantaneous communication by satellite as well as
almost instantaneous annihilation?
Throughout the period of rapid changes, the primary missions of the College remained intact.
Its technical programs were already of proven design and employment conditions for graduates
remained numerous. The 35 percent of each graduating class who chose to continue toward
baccalaureate degrees found an increasing number of college open to them.
Finally, something needs to be said about facilities.
New buildings, dormitories and
laboratories did not come automatically or without a great deal of effort on the part of academic
faculty and administrative personnel working together. In 1966 the campus stretched down
from Ryder Hall to Dix Hall and across the highway to the newly developed agriculture campus,
which, at that time, had less than 50 percent of the structures now in place. Many changes
were to occur during the period 1966 through 1976 (The latter was the year that the SUNY
Board of Trustees declared a moratorium on future construction). Cobleskill more than doubled
instructional and residential facilities during that decade. For example, most of the area now
occupied by the five “new” dorms [almost twenty years old when this was published], Champlin
Hall and Brickyard Point was a swampy woodland. Warner Hall and Holmes Hall occupied an
31 area which, in 1966, contained a beautiful circular driveway outlined by large maple trees. The
Learning Resources Center, the Swimming Pool and Knapp Hall were areas of lawn, while
neither of the two major parking lots existed.
...
There was warmth and comity at Cobleskill in 1966. It will remain among my most cherished
memories. The thirteen hundred students and staff were a collegial community in the finest
sense of the concept.
And as we grew larger and more materialistic. . .stressed by the
University’s political problems and obligations and torn by events represented by places with
names like Cambodia, Kent State, Berkeley and Memphis. . .I often wondered how long we
could remain a true community.
All American colleges changed radically and irrevocably
between 1970 and 1980. They could never be insular again.
Perhaps that is as it had to be. A college must evolve with the society it serves, or it will be
of diminishing value to that society.
But there is much consolation in the realization that
Cobleskill fared so much better than many during those turbulent years. It remains a warm and
friendly college—because those who serve there and those who study there continue to make it
so.
Faculty and Student Voices
The excepts from accounts below—again written for the 75th anniversary publication—reinforce
that the college maintained a community spirit, and that it understood that the arts and
humanities were a necessary part of even a technical education.
But it is also clear that
individuals felt it was their responsibility to help the college in whatever way they could—not just
what was in their job description. Returning to Nick Iorio’s list reveals several of these qualities:
32 9. Gradually the enrollment grew but the facilities didn’t. The College got a break when oil
instead of coal was used for heating. The empty coal bins became classrooms, storage areas
and shower rooms built by faculty and staff.
10.
At that time there was no common area for socialization, most of which occurred in
hallways. One year some faculty and staff got together and cleaned up a storage area in the
basement of the Dairy Building (now Alumni Hall), and the “TP” (Trading Post) was born. It
served the College well until the present snack bar in Bouck was built.
11. Back then the Library was just a large room on the second floor of Frisbie—books piled
high on tables and little or no supervision. Then it spilled out into the hallway. I think the Library
moved two or three times before it became housed where it is now located. The last time
students, staff and faculty did the moving, passing books from hand to hand in long lines. Good
teamwork!
12. Faculty and staff also built facilities for instructional purposes. Barn space was converted to
classrooms or rebuilt over the years before the present modern facilities came into being.
13. As the College grew, providing housing was a problem. Students were housed in large
houses downtown, in private homes, at the hotel Augustan, in apartment houses and at the
motel at the east end of town. In 1948 a small dormitory (Ryder Hall) was built. It was an
embarrassment because the rooms were so small that two students were barely able to live in
them in harmony. The State University finally realized that the students in the Ag-Techs were
the same physical size as those in the four-year units and the new dorm rooms became slightly
larger—but not by much.
14. What is now our Plant Science program started in one small greenhouse located behind the
Old Gym Building.
In 1949 some faculty went up to Canton and brought back a used
33 greenhouse. In transporting it to Cobleskill someone forgot to label and number the parts.
Putting the greenhouse puzzle together took them all summer.
15. Early in the 50’s we started a “lifelong” sports program in the Physical Education classes
with golf, tennis, volleyball, bowling, badminton and archery.
Later skiing, canoeing,
backpacking and outdoor education were added. At one time bowling was taught in five lessons
in downtown Cobleskill. Students walked to class, had one hour of instruction, set their own
pins, and then walked back to the campus in time for their next scheduled class. . .
16. And who can forget the Saturday morning meetings of the faculty to discuss academic
matters and students at risk?
It was a team effort to motivate students to maximize their
potential—and it worked!. . .
17. In order to give the students a good experience, our convocation program included opera,
ballet, Shakespeare, Big Band sound and one year we had Lukas Foss and the Buffalo
Philharmonic Orchestra, plus the West Point Band. . . .
This emphasis on the arts for students is reiterated by John Grosvenor, Cobleskill’s first
Distinguished Teaching Professor, in his piece “Recollections of Theatre’s ‘Golden Age’—Act I;
In the early 50’s there was a magnificent group of Korean War veterans who apparently came
to Cobleskill in search of something more than a technical education. Their fellow students,
infected by the former’s enthusiasm, willingly joined the search. Infinitely wise, Dr. Ray Wheeler
sensed this feeling just as he sensed that soon the Institute would be entering a new phase of
education. Then, perhaps, many of us were listening to University people—Dr. Hamilton and,
later, Dr. Boyer, and professors such as Paul Pettit—who were encouraging greater growth of
and participation in the arts by all units of the University. We knew that post-war Cobleskill was
waiting for substantive theatre.
34 ....
Fortunately, we never lacked student or community support. Our Schoharie County service and
social clubs, churches, and local schools were our patrons.
They, in turn, were most
cooperative with publicity and awards. LTG (Little Theater Group) became a display piece for
the Institute. Rarely was there a special event or day that the theatre was not a part of—
particularly Open House.
So theatre gradually became part of our life on campus and a
provider of a special kind of culture not heretofore customary either on or off “The Hill.”
Emma Geneva Conway, Class of 1953, and Doris Phillips Leverett, Class of 1977 and 24 years
apart, echo similar themes in their recollections:
I [Emma Geneva] arrived at Cobleskill college as a new student in the New York State
University higher education system on a crisp fall day in September 1951. I was somewhat
frightened (this was my first experience being away from home). Home was Albany, some 35
miles away. But I was also looking forward to college.
I will always carry in my mind the picture of the four pale yellow brick buildings trimmed with
white set neatly around the Quad.
Edna Holterbach, the housemother of Ryder Hall, was especially attentive to her new
charges. Apparently she realized our anxieties and fears of this unknown educational venture.
And though I would suffer pangs of homesickness, I found some real friends and dedicated
instructors. Mr. Iorio, my physical education instructor, was a real down-to-earth person—firm,
fair and friendly. Through Mr. “Pop” Warde I became a lover of track and field competition and
remain so to this day. Because of Mr. John Grosvenor I became interested in and participated
in Little Theatre productions. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler often invited us to their home, where they
were gracious and patient hosts. The sororities were another source of support and friendships.
These activities helped us to fill our free time
35 ....
On this small and intimate campus I gained an education and developed the ability to meet the
challenges of the position I would hold in the health care field in the furutre.
And from Doris Phillips:
Little Theatrer productions of Shaw’s Androcles and the Lion and Hellman’s Little Foxes;
backpacking, canoeing and apple picking with the Outing Club; rehearsals and concerts with the
College Choir; national Phi Theta Kappa conventions in Biloxi, Mississippi, and Minneapolis,
Minnesota; lunch at the Snack Bar with fellow commuters; singing in Brickyard Point with the
Student Christian Association—if you were to ask me to tell about my Coby experiences from
fall of ’75 to spring of ’77 initially these are the ghosts which float out of my memory and make
me nostalgic.
....
At Cobleskill I was plunged into real teaching through experiences in the campus nursery
school, Ryder Schools, and a classroom of retarded children. I was given my first paid teaching
job tutoring E.O.P. students. In a word, I became enabled. My view of my own life took on a
new perspective. I realized I was a capable and competent person. From that point forward
risk-taking became possible and has paid off many times since my Coby days.
1986 to present
To say that the past thirty years have been turbulent for SUNY Cobleskill would be nothing
short of an understatement. While the previous thirty-seven years saw rapid growth, it did so
under only two presidents and one short term interim. In contrast, in the past thirty years, after
the retirement of Dr. Brown, the College has had five presidents (assuming that the search that
is being conducted at this point is successful) and five interim presidents—and one of the
36 presidents, Dr. Kenneth Wing, served for ten of those years. But Dr. Brown was also prescient
in that he realized that social changes were creating changes in colleges and universities, and
larger university systems.
Economics caused institutions to find places to create savings;
money for infrastructure and new buildings was not forthcoming, and, for Cobleskill and the
other colleges of technology, community colleges were increasingly offering technical programs
at lower costs—and adding residence halls also. In other words, the colleges’ niche was being
challenged. Added to this were constant State budget problems that at one point threatened to
close the colleges of technology, and pulled back funding from all State institutions. This also
meant no new buildings. After the burst of new construction in the sixties and seventies, only
one new building—aside from a shed or two—was added to the campus in the 80’s, the Neal V.
Robbins Fieldhouse.
However, in spite of this, Cobleskill moved on to its next steps. As Dr. Walton Brown was
reaching the end of his presidency, he started the college on yet a new path:
to offer a
baccalaureate degree. He appointed a committee of four—Dr. Theodore Bruetsch from Plant
Science, Dr. James Hayes and Dr. Stephen Mackenzie from Animal Science, and Mr. Duane
Miller from Agricultural Business—to develop a Bachelor of Technology degree in agriculture.
The program was to be a 2+2, that is, to provide the junior and senior years for the associate
programs in the various areas in agriculture: Agricultural Business, Agricultural Engineering,
Animal Science and Plant Science. The hallmark of the program was a one semester fifteen
credit internship that each student had to complete before graduation.
Ten years later, the College moved more aggressively forward to create a number of
baccalaureate degrees, first in Business and Information Technology, and then even Bachelor
of Science degrees in Early Childhood and key areas in the liberal arts and sciences. Looking
toward the future, some key hires were made to develop programs that were to become
37 signature Cobleskill degrees. Dr. John Foster was hired to create a program in Fisheries, and
Dr. Michael Losito was hired to create one in Wildlife.
Not until 1999, with money coming in for a new Dairy Barn, an addition to Bouck Hall, and a
Child Care Center, did the campus see new buildings. These were followed in 2006 by money
for the science laboratory addition to Wheeler Hall, the complete rehabilitation of Frisbie Hall,
and in 2008 with money for completion of the Dairy Barn, the creation of the Center for
Environmental Science and Technology and the new Center for Agriculture and Natural
Resources that opened in 2014, and in recognition of the need for residence halls for juniors
and seniors, the Alumni Commons residence halls which also opened in 2014. Between 2006
and 2014, over $100,000,000 was invested in the campus.
At this time, Athletics at SUNY Cobleskill were flourishing, in spite of many challenges—not the
least of which was moving from NJCAA to NCAA. In this past thirty years, student teams have
won conference championships in Men’s cross country (6), women’s cross country (10), men’s
soccer (1), women’s soccer (3), , women’s tennis (1), women’s tennis (5), women’s volleyball
(5), men’s basketball (4), women’s basketball (1), men’s swimming (7), women’s swimming (7),
women’s track and field (3), men’s golf (9), men’s track and field (3), and women’s softball (1).
In addition, they have won NJCAA Regional Championships in women’s indoor track and field
(1), women’s outdoor track and field (1), men’s outdoor track and field (1), women’s cross
country (2), men’s basketball (2), men’s golf (2); and two NJCAA National Championships: one
in women’s Nordic skiing in 1986 and in Alpine skiing in 1990. In 1994, the College introduced
its Athletic Hall of Fame—and one of its first inductees, appropriately enough, was Nick Iorio—
the man hired in 1948 as coach and who served as athletic director, Dean of Students, and,
after retiring, became mayor of the Village of Cobleskill.
38 In his inaugural address to the campus in 1986. Dr. Neal Robbins—who might well have
taken a page out of Nick Iorio’s playbook--made note of Cobleskill’s traditions “of placing the
needs of students first, and teaching them enthusiastically and well; of everyone pitching in to
get the job done and of cooperation with our community; a spirit of caring and sharing and
innovating; and a tradition of public service.”
But he was well aware of the same social
movements that had led to Dr. Brown’s understanding that institutions much change with the
times, and the rest of his address outlined ten “paths” he believed Cobleskill needed to
consider. What should be noted is that many of the “paths” he outlined were indeed followed in
later years:
First, then, we must concern ourselves with and appreciate the beautiful campus which has
been prepared for us by those who have gone before. Presidents Sabol and Brown, among
other contributors, moved us from five or six buildings on the Hill to the magnificent campus we
have today. Now we must care for and improve that heritage, and occasionally repair the roofs,
and plant more trees, and once in a while remind out patrons that we still need to renovate and
reequip, and that we still would like to have that long-awaited Field House—our students need
and deserve it.
Second, we must continue to care for our curricular programs. We cannot stop trying to be
better—change is a necessity! And our proposed Bachlor of Technology program in Agriculture,
our Travel and Resort Marketing and Diesel Technology programs, and the return of foreign
languages to our course offerings are all evidence of the new beginnings that every college
must make to keep up with the needs of our community.
Third, we need an emphasis on the importance of scholarship on this and every other
campus. Webelieve, along with the recent study by the National Institute of Education, “the
amount of student learning. . .is directly proportional to the quantity and quality of student
39 involvement in that program.”
We want every student who attends Cobleskill to have the
chance to succeed. We want to have fine co-curricular services—because they help students
learn. But we aspire to be a community of scholars, with a commitment to inquiry and research
and intellectual curiosity, and a sense of dissatisfaction with unexamined questions.
Fourth, we need to continue and improve our service to the public.
Not just through
educational short courses; not just through being a major economic benefit—and we are an
economic benefit; but through an active program of interaction; through concern about the
farming members of our community; about developing a small business institute; about our
hope to get more people on campus and to provide an increased number of cultural events for
the community.
We also aspire to work more closely and in cooperative efforts with our colleagues in
elementary and secondary education. We hope to break down more of the barriers and reach
out to articulate our programs more effectively with the vitally important schools systems
throughout New York State. Our success in articulation of our programs with four-year colleges
must be matched with sound cooperative programs with our secondary colleagues.
The country needs and demands an educated citizenry in order to survive. As has been
said: “The nation which expects to be uneducated and free, expects what never was and can
never be.” And our community also is New York State. We recognize that, in addition to
training students for a career, we are training them for citizenship.
Fifth, we must recognize and nurture the greatest resource, our people who serve our
campuses. I don’t see how I can ask our faculty and staff to work harder, or teach more
students; but we must ask ourselves to work better and teach better. In return, we must all care
for, and respect, and develop, and admire the fine work that our faculty does.
40 I believe that what we must aspire to here is a new beginning of increased recognition and
teaching, respect for the contribution that our Cobleskill people make; and respect for their
efforts in research, the real work of helping students learn. Every college has to “earn its wings
every day,” and good people are the way that happens.
Sixth. Among the College’s more recent challenges has been the need to deal with changes
in the students we must serve—and part of our “New Beginning” is to better meet the learning
needs of nontraditional students, such as working adults and the handicapped. We will need to
increase our services to these learners—to help them find jobs or to transfer for advanced
degrees. We must learn to help some succeed who have not experienced much success. I
believe we will remain a selective college; but we must both hold standards and retain those
students we select. This challenge has come later to Cobleskill than to some others, but it is no
less an exciting challenge.
We have been seriously involved this year in a minority outreach program, recognizing that
we are all a nation of immigrants and that we must serve that 20% of our population currently
under-represented in our higher education system.
Seventh, we need new beginnings in providing the resources that are necessary for the
College and for higher education. We need to provide clearer reasons to our governmental
sources, showing that we are an economic benefit rather than a drain upon the taxpayers.
Surely we can make it clear that colleges must have a high priority in this society! And we must
improve in our ability to attract private support. This year we have a born-again foundation, with
new members and new goals.
This foundation, whose members include many community leaders, has had notable success
recently in funding scholarships and campus projects. This program has been nurtured by
strong alumni support. The two-year-old Schoharie County Community Scholarship Fund has
41 launched its annual campaign to fund tuition scholarships for Schoharie County high school
students planning to attend Cobleskill—their “hometown college.”
And as Al Jolson said
(somewhat ungrammatically), “You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.”
Eighth. And this goes properly with number seven, we must learn to be better managers.
We now have—as a result of leadership of the SUNY trustees and the wisdom of our
Legislature—a flexibility in management which we are challenged to use wisely and well. We
have the challenge of self-sufficiency in our dorms, which we must manage well. We must plan
our work and work our plan. We must compute carefully and use our computers well. We need
to aspire to manage better.
Ninth. All our other aspirations lead us to understand we must have a new beginning as
citizens of the world. As our morning paper will not let us forget, our community is the world. A
smaller world, a changing world—but one which desperately needs world citizens who will
commit their efforts to the greater questions of hunger, disease, economic development and
protection of our spaceship Earth. Fortunately, our students remind us that we need to reach
out to other lands and people, and this we aspire to do.
As I listened to those inspiring voices from Stud Terkel’s “The Good War” recently at a
campus reading, I realized again that there is no such thing as a “good war,” and one of the
primary goals of this and every college must be the furtherance of world peace.
Tenth. And finally there is a tenth area that needs our renewed efforts. I can illustrate it best
by relating something that happened about ten days ago. I was sitting at my desk one morning,
when the phone rang. Informed that it was a parent named Mrs. Quackenbush, I looked for a
vice-president in charge of parent complaints, but none was available.
So I took the call, and Mrs. Quackenbush explained that she called because she had to tell
someone at Cobleskill that her son, Joe, had been admitted as a provisional student at
42 Cobleskill in 1982; that he had struggled and graduated; that he had gone to St. Lawrence on a
scholarship and graduated with honors and had just been admitted to Upstate Medical Center to
work on his M.D.
She really called to tell me that she gave much credit to people who cared at Cobleskill—
people who had taken a personal interest in his success.
That’s it. That’s the secret ingredient at this college. We don’t have “input” measures for it.
It is not management by objectives. It is not part of our strategic planning; but I am convinced it
is what makes a difference. People who care.
This view of the college was echoed by Dr. Frank Pogue who served as Acting President for a
year after Dr. Robbins retired. In a statement written for this publication, Dr. Pogue expressed
his appreciation for the College’s strengths:
Quite frankly, the opportunity to serve in this capacity at Cobleskill was truly
appreciated. I knew of the exceptionally high quality of the faculty, superior support staff, and
the success of students. I was aware of the national reputation of the academic program. But
what I didn’t know about, until I got there, was that Cobleskill was the best kept secret in the
SUNY System.
Although I had worked for more than twenty years at SUNY Albany and had systemwide experience with all sixty-four campuses, I had not worked directly with a specialized
campus. I had not worked directly with an agriculture and technology college. Although I had
visited Cobleskill several times and was acquainted with several faculty, staff and trustees, I had
not interacted directly with students, other than those in the SUNY Educational Opportunity
Program. I found that the students were always so eager to learn and to lead.
43 Another “path” Dr. Robbins took was to hire the first woman to be in a cabinet position. Dr.
Olive Scott describes her experience—and her contribution toward creating one of the College’s
key programs: its partnership with John Deere, a partnership which was to lead the way to
other industry programs:
I began my long-time association with SUNY Cobleskill in 1987 when I accepted the position of
Sr. Vice President/Vice President for Academic Affairs. (The designation of Provost was only
given to a VPAA at a four-year college and at that time SUNY Cobleskill was still considered a
two-year college.)
This was the first time a woman had been hired at the Cabinet level; not only a woman, but a
woman from southern California. I am not sure that the faculty in the Division of Agriculture and
Technology were totally thrilled with the idea. What most of them did not know, I was born and
raised on a farm in North Dakota. I had milked cows, driven horses, and etc.
When I began my tenure at Cobleskill on July 1, 1987, the Bachelor of Technology had been
approved, however, the various course curricula was still waiting approval by the State
Education Department. One of my charges from President, Cornelius (Neal) Robbins, was to
“get the program up and running.” That was my first introduction to the SUNY system! I came
from the community college system in California where there are three different higher
education systems, community college, state college, and state university; an Education Code
and considerable more autonomy at the individual college level. Fortunately, Dr. Robbins had
worked at SUNY Administration and could give me some insight on who I should get to know at
SUNY and at State Ed.
Although the college did not technically have approval for the program, students were enrolled
44 in the courses which would lead to a BT. One of the programs scheduled to receive approval
was a BT in Thoroughbred Management. About a month after I started as VPAA, I received a
call from SUNY Administration to inform me that we did not have an approved program in
Thoroughbred Management. One of the faculty members was a little over zealous in his
recruiting efforts and was handing out flyers at the Saratoga Race Track before the program
was approved. It is always great to have faculty totally involved in their programs. The first
students graduating with a Bachelor of Technology was in 1988.
It was a small, but an
enthusiastic group.
The budget for new and replacement of equipment for the academic areas was just over
$400,000. This did not begin to meet our needs as computers became a more integral part of
the academic programs and the equipment for new and expanding programs exceeded the
equipment budget by thousands of dollars. I had helped implement a program at my former
college with General Motors to provide new cars, one of each kind manufactured; new testing
and repair equipment; and faculty training on an annual basis for the Automotive Program.
Based on the very positive experience I had with General Motors, I contacted John Deere to see
if something similar was available for the Ag Engineering Program. They were working with
other colleges, mostly in the mid-west. The Vice President for Business and Finance was sure
it was illegal to partner with a company to provide equipment for the academic programs and
tried to convince the President that I was going to get the college in trouble.
I was able to convince Dr. Robbins that the program was not illegal and that I would not get the
college in trouble. At first, the faculty members were not overly excited about the program.
After they were convinced they would not lose control of their curriculum, the program moved
forward and the John Deere Program became a reality in 1992. It was exciting to see the first
large tractors move in, some costing more than our entire equipment budget.
45 She lead the way for other women in vice presidential roles at the campus: vice president of
administration and finance under Dr. Wing, vice-presidents and provosts under Dr. Thomas
Haas and Dr, Donald Zingale, and three interim presidents.
The Wing Years
Dr. Kenneth Wing was selected to be president in 1992 and he served until 2002, and was
the mainstay in an otherwise turbulent time for administration at the college—especially when
one notes that the first sixteen years had two presidents and one interim—and the second
fourteen years had three presidents, two of whom served only three years—one very new—and
four interims.
But shortly into Dr. Wing’s presidency, the State, and therefore SUNY, faced
serious budget problems.
As had happened several times before, one of the immediate
responses by SUNY was to consider closing the five colleges of technology. This may have
happened if it were not for a member of the Board of Trustees, Erland Kailborne, and the SUNY
Provost, Dr. Peter Salins, who came up with the concept or the University Colleges of
Technology, wherein these institutions would share services and move aggressively to add
appropriate bachelor degree programs. Dr. William Murabito, who was for a time the Executive
Director of the UCT and later interim president of Cobleskill after Dr. Wing retired, writes of the
experience in his retrospective written for the centennial, “Cobleskill Meets the Challenges of
the 21st Century”:
The last quarter of the 20th century was not particularly kind to Cobleskill. It was a
period of declining enrollments, reduction in state funding, introduction of new technology
and the rise of the community college sector. Cobleskill, which had remained a vital part of
New York’s higher education system, was in decline.
Its academic program offerings
remained of high quality, but students were able to gain access to associate degrees at a
46 local community college at a cost significantly less than the traditional residential
experience offered by Cobleskill. Additionally, challenges developed by the need to invest
in capital improvements of an aging infrastructure and the need to invest in the ever
changing technology advances necessary to keep the academic programs vital and up-todate.
As the problems exacerbated through the early 1980’s, the State University began
subsidizing the operational budgets of many of the Ag and Techs, including Cobleskill. The
decision was made to create a more formal action plan to address the issues. Cobleskill
and the other Ag and Techs were authorized to develop baccalaureate programs that
would be designed to address the need for expanded knowledge to prepare students for
the job market. Development of the programs was slow and the University organized the
campuses under a consortium arrangement that was titled, “The University Colleges of
Technology.”
The five upstate Ag and Techs were members of the consortium while
Farmingdale, located on Long Island, was allowed to develop stand-alone solutions given
its location and access to a very extensive student catchment area; SUNYIT declined the
offer to join the consortium.
The UCT was governed by a Presidents’ Council which
created an action plan designed to develop new academic programs and to address
campus budget issues. Little progress was achieved and the University was concerned
that the consortium was being viewed as an ongoing organized subsidy strategy as
opposed to an investment designed to accomplish needed change.
I was appointed
Executive Director of the Consortium with the charge to redirect its efforts.
All of the
members, including Cobleskill, voiced displeasure and were concerned the University was
interested in closing or combining campuses. After a few months, campuses began to
work together in a more organized manner. Consortium based baccalaureate programs
were being developed to expand their market and allow for both campus specialization and
differentiation. Members of the Cobleskill community, especially Vice President MacDonald
47 Holmes and Dean Chester Burton took the leadership role for the consortium in the area of
academic program development. In 2002 the UCT had achieved the goal of approving
campus-based budgetary self-sufficiency plans free of university-wide subsidies.
Following the end of the UCT consortium, I was asked to serve as the Acting
President at Cobleskill while a presidential search was to be conducted. President Wing
had announced his retirement after a decade of service leading the campus through
dramatic change.
During my service as the Acting President, I was supported by a
seasoned administrative leadership team lead by Dr. Holmes and a faculty dedicated to
excellence. The assets enjoyed by Cobleskill set it apart from its sister institution; only
Morrisville rivaled its agriculture platform.
The location of the campus in eastern New York with easy access to major
transportation links and proximity to the tri-city area of Albany-Schenectady-Troy offered
Cobleskill a recruitment advantage. . . .
A successful presidential search resulted in the hiring of Dr. Haas who inherited a
campus ready for change and further development of its many assets.
Dr, Thomas Haas took over the presidency in August 2003, and, as he outlines in his
retrospective below, “Cobleskill in the Haas Years,” his major thrust was to create a working
strategic plan, whose primary thrust was to create a baccalaureate campus; in this, he was
aided by the fact that Dr. Murabito had put together a committee under the leadership of
Distinguished Teaching Professor, Dr, Michael Murphy, whose charge was to outline the steps
that needed to be taken to create a baccalaureate atmosphere on campus. The Strategic Plan
set up academic, personnel, athletic, physical plant, and enrollment goals which served the
campus well for the three years of his presidency and the two years under the interim, Dr. Anne
Myers, who followed him. In that time, the college added bachelor degree programs in almost
every area, moved to NCAA DIII and the North Eastern Athletic Conference, received its first
48 Federal appropriation for a gasifier, completed a Facilities Master Plan, received a Title III grant
for $2 million, received over $45 million for new buildings, changed faculty load and
responsibilities, moved toward becoming a sustainable campus, increased both the number of
international programs on campus and the number of opportunities for its students to study
abroad, and had almost 45% of its students enrolled in bachelor programs.
I observed the challenges that the campus was experiencing. These were in enrollment
dynamics, instability in faculty and staff and questions about the viability of the campus in
SUNY. I also know the campus had a lot going for it. For those invested in mission, especially
those on the College Council and the Foundation, there was pride in overcoming the
challenges.
I was particularly impressed by a dedicated faculty and staff as well as
students/alumni who believed in the mantra that “I got my start at Cobleskill.” The campus was
located in an economically depressed part of the state, yet SUNY Cobleskill was critical to their
success. I also could see that the campus was, indeed, part of the Capital Region (Albany) and
we could take advantage of that.
...
Strategic planning at SUNY Cobleskill needed a jump start. The members of the College
Council were clear that a pathway forward was imperative.
In order to go forward with a
process a model was selected that led to answers why SUNY Cobleskill? We discovered clearly
that SUNY Cobleskill had and needed to continue to be student focused, with relevant
curriculum and a good return on investment made by, not only SUNY and the state, but its
students. The institution could follow its mantra that “I got my start at Cobleskill” but that
Cobleskill was changing. It had at its core a two year perspective, but to continue not only its
relevance, but existence, it needed to improve the four year (Bacc) culture entrusted to it by
SUNY. SUNY’s strategic plan was clear that its Ag/Techs must, and quickly, evolve to its 4-year
institutional nature.
49 ...
The plan, COBY 2011, was created, shared, posted and used to make our budget decision as
well as using a model that invested small amounts of revenue to entrepreneurial and innovative
areas.
One of which was sustainability. The plan was assessed with appropriate metrics
through the years it was in effect, adapted as necessary and kept us on our path.
The following is some examples of achievement during the “Haas administration” using our last
year together.
2005/06 was a very productive year for the campus as we continued to implement the strategies
and tactics embraced in our strategic plan. The year began with what is now a traditional retreat
of COBY 2011 (the 2011 refers to the centennial of our charter); the members of the team
represent all sectors of the campus. At our August meeting, we reaffirmed our vision, our
mission and our guiding principles. The retreat also provided an opportunity to do a full review
of the myriad of tactics, which meant eliminating those we had completed or that were not in line
with our goals. We assessed our outcomes, reformatted the electronic version of the plan and
set up a new process for allocating funding and feedback. For the second year now, 1% of our
operating budget was applied to the “low hanging fruit” or initiatives.
....
One final initiative this year was to develop the structure that will imbed assessment as an
institution wide project, not simply the assessment of learning outcomes. We call this initiative
“Assessing Institutional Mission” (AIM) and it is linked directly to Middle States and our MOU
50 [Memorandum of Understanding with SUNY]. This effort will provide evidence, feedback and
accountability in all we do.
Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) has been a challenge as we have had our three
different Directors of Marketing and Admissions in three years. We have successfully shifted
our focus from relying entirely on recruitment of a large freshman class, to a more balanced
approach which includes retention and raising the profile of our entering class.
We have kept
our enrollment numbers at approximately 2500 for over 3 years while we have improved
selectivity dramatically from denying only 100 of our pool in 2003 to denying over 400 in 2005;
at the same time, we instituted a support program for those students who clearly were in the
lowest segment of the class. This, along with steady increases in the number of students in our
baccalaureate programs, has improved retention from 66% from spring to fall in 2004 to 89%
from spring to fall in 2005. At the same time, we have a very successful EOP program, and
have requested that we be allowed to increase the number of students in our class. After
reviewing the statistics of our application pool, we have decided to limit growth over the next five
years in order to concentrate on retention, standards and admissions into our baccalaureate
programs.
A very important enrollment management initiative was with four community colleges to work on
a pilot systems approach to transfer, which means essentially that we will be able to eliminate
the concept of articulation agreements. A contract was signed which will allow graduates from
the participating community colleges to attend SUNY Cobleskill in academic programs as third
year students without having course by course evaluations. The faculty in the five institutions is
committed to working together on their programs for better alignment.
51 We continued our efforts to increase the number and the diversity of our bachelor degrees. This
past year has resulted in our second Bachelor of Science degree and two additional bachelor of
technology degrees. Our one B.Tech and our third B.S. degree are now at State Education,
and B.S. program proposals four, five and six will be submitted to SUNY by the end of June.
Our goal was to have six new Bachelor degrees by 2011; we will have exceeded that number by
2007. Instead, we will have ten additional degrees all before 2011, and all of them in areas of
keen relevance to the State. As support for our new four-year programs, we have doubled the
library acquisitions budget and begun to implement the “Information Commons” concept.
At the prompting of the academic areas, the college has adopted Sustainability as a theme to
direct efforts in curricular development and college practices; I have signed the Tailloires
agreement as a formal commitment to sustainable practices.
Our Histotechnology program was reaccredited for the maximum of seven years, and the first
graduate from our Medical School Assurance program will graduate from UpState Medical this
May.
One of the most serious challenges facing the academic area is the nagging issue of work load
and pay. While we have made concerted efforts to increase our baccalaureate profile, our
faculty workload is still at community college levels of 15-18 credit hours per semester and our
salaries are among the lowest in SUNY. We have taken steps to ameliorate both situations.
First, we were not filling all faculty retirements, and second to use the savings to begin funding
higher salaries for new faculty, higher raises for promotions (we have doubled the raises for
promotion to associate professor and tripled the raises for promotion to full professor).
However, this raises the potential of compression—but we have made a gesture of good faith in
that we will adjust the salaries of those who did not have the benefit of the new promotion
52 raises, and we made the first installment in January. We also have begun to address workload,
and we will continue to work with UUP and SUNY on helping us solve these issues.
Finally, in order to better manage the Academic program, we reorganized five “divisions” into
three “schools,” as two of our divisions had only 10 faculty (this was long overdue). Also, in
recognizing that the number of international students coming to our campus has risen
dramatically, as have the number and variety of our agreements with international institutions
(Turkey, Russia, and China), we have created the position of Director for International
Programs.
The past year in Student Affairs was marked with the decision to move to NCAA DIII: we are
now in “exploratory year” and are pursuing an appropriate conference affiliation. We continued
to support leadership development across RA, SGA, activity leaders, as well as engage
students in strategic planning, Mission Review and Middle States. A highlight of this past year,
and in alignment with our efforts in AIM, was the initial accreditation of our Wellness Center.
We are among only a few schools in the State that have achieved that status.
A major problem solved this year was communication with students. Student Affairs, working
with our Information Technology staff, set up the web-based “Student Sharepoint,” which has
been a great success both in improving faculty and staff communication for students, and for
students to communicate with each other.
Academic and Student Affairs continue to partner on outstanding orientation programs,
recruitment initiatives and most importantly, in retention. One such effort was the joint financial
support for a new career counselor for internships and job placement for bachelor students.
Career Counseling, Residential Life, UPD [University Police Department] and Career
53 Preparation all integrate efforts with student academics, and the results are in most part very
satisfying to students and staff. This next year, however, we will not stay stagnant. A complete
review through assessment of Student Affairs may lead to reorganization.
For a third year, we have a balanced budget with a small reserve built to ensure stability. Two
audits were conducted with successful results, which is further affirmation of our new financial
processes. The Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) allocated strategic monies and has posted
quarterly accounts online for all to see. Additionally, the application of strategic money has
enhanced our campus, but it has been difficult to hold off on financial decisions that need to be
made but cannot be because some areas have been sustained largely through one time
monies. With the hope that some of these one-time monies are now permanently in our base
budget, the BAC will revisit the budget this next year and apply the now permanent monies (if
there is such a thing in any state budget) to areas of greatest need.
...
The major effort in this area has been in “bricks and mortar”. Last summer $12M of repairs and
upgrades was made to the campus and this summer we are investing an additional $14M.
However, at the end of the process, we will be a safer, more energy-efficient and much more
aesthetically-pleasing campus (roadways and sidewalks will be improved, as well as
classrooms, residence halls, athletic fields and agricultural improvements with the opening of
the SUNY Foundation Equestrian Center).
The other part of the effort in facilities was to identify gaps in our program funding for capital.
We were successful, and Senator Jim Seward deserves the credit for helping to bring in $17.8M
to upgrade our “Old Quad” and to add a research/laboratory wing to Wheeler Hall. . .
54 To wrap up this portion, I think there were three overarching goals I had for SUNY Cobleskill
during, albeit, my short time at Cobleskill. We needed to create stability, then create momentum
and grow. In order to accomplish, I stressed to all that we needed to maintain our attention to
undergrads, stewardship, relevance and community; the value words of accountability. Always,
students first! We had to continue efforts in creating a baccalaureate culture with strategic
enrollment management principles and attach it to Mission Review II.
To conclude – A good Coastie (a member of the Coast Guard and for me it was a total of 32
years of military and civilian service) always looks to leave the unit, cutter, institution, and in this
case SUNY Cobleskill a little bit better. I am hopeful that in hindsight and in 2016, 10 years
after my administration, we did just that. I am proud of my service to SUNY Cobleskill and even
prouder of my close colleagues on the SMT and faculty/staff who made a difference.
Today
In the past eight years, the college has had a president, Dr. Donald Zingale, and two interims:
Dr. Candace Vancko, who was also president of SUNY Delhi, and Dr. Debra Thatcher, who had
been hired by Dr. Zingale as Provost. After Dr. Zingale retired, SUNY System Administration
brought forth a variation of the University Colleges of Technology, which they called “Shared
Services,” and Cobleskill, along with four of the other Colleges of Technology were to share
administrative personnel.
At this point, that no longer includes presidents.
However, the
College continues to move forward, and anyone visiting the campus can see that today. On the
central mall, which has been re-landscaped, flags of all the countries that have sent students
here fly; a new Center for Environmental Science and Technology give students and faculty
space to experiment on new technologies;
a State grant will fund a new dairy processing
facility, which may even bring the College back to the roots, when students made, among other
55 things, ice cream, and help other agricultural entrepreneurs get on their feet. But perhaps the
clearest symbol is the new Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources that graces the north
side of the campus. It is multi-stories, high tech, and student friendly, with spaces for interaction
with faculty and each other, overlooking the rest of the campus. It is the future, but it has not
forgotten the best of its past.