SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher visited all 62 campuses in the state university system over the summer and will be sharing what she”™s learned, along with a blueprint for growth, when Rockland Community College hosts its economic forum Jan. 10.
Zimpher, the SUNY system”™s first woman chancellor, was named to the post in 2009 and took off like a whirlwind. She”™s been visiting schools and talking to chambers of commerce about her vision for the future of the state”™s higher education system in a comprehensive plan titled, “The Power of SUNY.”
Zimpher was keynote speaker at an Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce breakfast in December, outlining her ideas to create private-public partnerships and to encourage entrepreneurs to team up with students to create strategic partnerships that will help students preparing to go into business for themselves.
With more than 500,000 students enrolled in the state”™s two- and four-year colleges, Zimpher feels SUNY”™s power as an economic engine in their respective regions cannot be ignored, saying for every dollar spent in the parameters of each college, it is coming back to the local economy eightfold.
In an op-ed piece in the New York Post in 2009, Zimpher compared the SUNY system with a Fortune 200 enterprise, saying its 2,800 buildings on 20,000 acres with 80,000 employees represent an economic engine.
With these numbers in mind, Zimpher and her committee, which includes Gerald Benjamin of SUNY New Paltz, Damon Fernandez, the provost of SUNY Purchase and Cliff Wood, president of Rockland Community College, have put together a “road map” to create private-public partnerships, engage the business community with students and keep the SUNY system moving ahead and in the black, despite the state”™s financial crisis.
She touted the solar energy initiative going on in the Hudson Valley schools, noting both SUNY New Paltz and Ulster are providing programs to meet the business needs of future employees.
Her Jan. 10 meeting with the business community is being co-sponsored by the Rockland Business Association and the Rockland Economic Development Corporation. It will be held at the Ellipse beginning at 8:30 a.m.
“The Power of SUNY-A Strategic Plan for 2010 and Beyond” can be found at SUNY.org.
