All”™s quiet on the western front ”“ but not for long. SUNY Orange, which last year selected the Maple Street/Key Bank building for its new college”™s location, is getting ready to break ground on its science and math building.
Since Key Bank vacated the “tower” on the property and moved to its new regional headquarters in Poughkeepsie at the beginning of 2008, SUNY”™s existing extension center at the location has filled it to the brim, with 1,500 full- and part-time students. That number will more than double, according to SUNY President Bill Richards, when the new two-year college opens for the start of the 2011 semester.
Kaplan Hall, with 87,000 square feet of instructional space, is scheduled to break ground Oct. 21.
“Kaplan Hall will house all of our health and science programs,” said Richards. “When it is completed by the summer of 2010, we”™ll vacate the ”˜tower”™ building and move everyone into Kaplan Hall. Then we”™ll spend the following year renovating the ”˜tower”™ building.”
Richards said he expects that mission to be accomplished on time.
The new college plans to play a pivotal role in providing continuing education programs for adults, he said.
“We will have a greatly expanded effort in Newburgh ”¦ courses with specialty seminars geared toward Spanish-speaking groups. The city has a large Latino and Caribbean community, and there will be a significant effort to provide educational programs and support for this sector of the city”™s population.”
While he said classes for English as a second language are booming, he added that there is a growing interest by the English-speaking community to learn Spanish. “If you own a shoe store and you have Spanish-speaking customers, you”™re going to want to be able to communicate with those customers.”
In a nation that is quickly becoming bi-lingual, a “basic speaking vocabulary helps both the Hispanic and non-Hispanic community members,” he said.
The campus is approved for $85 million, with $10 million coming from the Kaplan Foundation, for whom the math and science technology center will be named.
SUNY Orange”™s president said enrollment continues to increase, and the demand for education is growing in the state”™s fastest growing county: “We projected a 1 percent increase in our student population for the 2008-2009 semester ”“ we are up 4.4 percent. Our Middletown campus currently has 6,000 full- and part-time students.”
To keep pace with technology, that campus will break ground on a science and engineering building in mid-2009. “That process will move much more quickly, since we already own the property,” said Richards. “It will make a significant difference to the campus.”
While praising the support the college receives from the county, Richards lamented the waning support from the state. “Albany is supposed to provide one-third of our budget, but this year, it is only 23 percent. If it weren”™t for the generosity of the Legislature, we”™d be in serious trouble. Our strategic plan called for small, incremental increases in tuition ”¦ however, trustees ”¦ had to increase tuition by $200.”
While it may not seem like a tremendous amount, “For some families, it is a lot of money,” he said. “So far, we have raised $1.8 million in a ”˜quiet”™ campaign to increase our endowment fund.”
The college plans to announce the capital campaign Oct. 17 at a dinner at the Middletown campus where it will award its annual college medal to members of the business, community service and education sectors. Richards hopes the campaign will bring in at least $5 million to $6 million.
Richards said he isn”™t blind to the state”™s current economic crisis. “As far as funding from Albany, I”™m well aware the state Legislature and governor have tremendous challenges. We are billions in the hole. They have to balance the budget. My argument is that the most significant investment government has at its discretion with a tremendous return on investment (is) education. You can build roads and prisons, but nothing contributes more to the future well-being of the state than education. ”¦ hundreds of our graduates now lead this community ”“ we count seven bank presidents and several members of our Legislature among our graduates. ”¦ investing in education is one of the best investments we can make as a society.”
