Coming to Back to Life

I put socks on twice this week … er, I mean I worked two days in my office this week. Monday, July 20, was our first day back as part of a three-phase return for the Fall semester. I have to say it felt good and was a refreshing change for me in contrast to my “Zoom cocoon” of the past four months.

The Utica Campus was spotless. Our Facilities crew has been working on campus all this time and we all should be grateful for their commitment and hard work — the place is beautiful. The buildings and grounds stood out more than usual because there were so few of us on campus. It was a different feeling for sure. However, this was the plan all along: to keep our population density low to minimize risk and begin testing our approach to safety while the numbers are small.

After arriving on campus, I went to the checkpoint at Payne Hall and got my bracelet for the day. My first day it took less than five minutes to check in with a few people in line, and three days later it took less than one minute. The people staffing the doors to check for bracelets as people entered the building provided me an extra level of assurance that the people on campus have minimal risk of COVID-19, having answered the mandatory questions and not having a high temperature.

We have a couple of police academies in operation, in addition to several classes in the Science and Technology Building finishing classes that were suspended in the Spring. Walking around campus with my mask on felt as normal as going to the grocery store and was a small change to reap the benefit of running into colleagues and having unscheduled, informal conversations.

Walking around campus gave me a chance to reflect on just what a massive disruption this pandemic has created. We can “get things done” and check off our daily task lists while working remotely. But as I’ve learned over the years, “how” we get things done is often just as important as “what” gets done. Zoom and email certainly provide the technological means for our work, but the human element — even when six feet apart with a mask — is a powerful thing, particularly when it comes to the student experience.

Our challenge is to hold on to enough of that human element and provide what we can to the extent possible with safety measures in place. I often say that change never happens at the right pace — it’s too fast for some and too slow for others; too much for some and too little for others. Our phased return is intended to provide a slow and measured change to allow the College to implement safety protocols in ways that allow for evaluation and adjustment and provide all of us with a steady and supportive experience in emerging — if only a little bit — from our Zoom cocoons…and revisiting parts of our closets we haven’t seen in months.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Martin Luther King Jr. — A Dream of Equity & Inclusion

It’s Black History Month in the 50th anniversary year of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. I recently had the honor of delivering the keynote address at a memorial luncheon in King’s honor, sponsored by the Mohawk Valley Frontiers Club. Here is an edited version of that address, which revisits some interesting aspects of King’s speech that aren’t always widely known. 

While Dr. King’s life and legacy are filled with many fascinating elements, I have taken a particular interest in his “I Have a Dream” speech. I don’t make passing reference to it; I mean it. In 2013, the 50th anniversary of King’s speech, I downloaded it in its entirety on my iPhone and put it on a playlist of songs I listen to in quiet moments. The more I’ve listened to it, the more I've found his words to be like true lyrics. His cadence creates a beautiful baseline, his inflections and tone hit remarkable notes. His refrains of “100 years later, Now is the Time, We cannot be satisfied, and I have a Dream” create beautiful verses of what feels like a 16-minute masterpiece. I can’t recite the whole speech, but I’ve listened to it so many times over the years that I can essentially “sing along” from start to finish, like I do with most songs I listen to in private.

August 28, 1963, was a sun-filled summer day in Washington, D.C., when an estimated 250,000 individuals gathered for an event that Dr. King said was “to go down in history, as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” It was officially called the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Of the 250,000 marchers, an estimated 60,000 (nearly 25 percent) were white, which is partly why King said “… many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.” That got some of the loudest applause in the whole speech — there was unity among those at the march.

There were actually 10 speakers that day. I don’t know if any of you have ever seen the hilarious skit on “Key and Peele” about what the man scheduled to speak after Dr. King might have said. Can you imagine if someone had to follow Dr. King? What do you say? It’s a great skit. Fortunately, no one had to bear that burden; Dr. King was indeed the final speaker that day.

To me, the most fascinating anecdote about King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is that the “I have a dream” part was improvised. I heard about this on National Public Radio several years ago and found an interview with Clarence Jones on the website of the British newspaper, The Guardian. Jones was a speech writer for Dr. King and would often write the initial draft of his speeches, as he did for the speech that day in 1963.

The night before the march, Dr. King finished the outline at about midnight and then edited the draft in longhand. One of the aides who visited King’s suite that night saw words crossed out three or four times. He said it looked as though King were writing poetry. King went to sleep at about 4 a.m., giving the text to his aides to print and distribute. The “I have a dream” section was not in it. 

Jones recalls that King was winding up what would have been a well-received, but by his standards, fairly unremarkable oration. As King was telling people to go back to their homes in the South, singer Mahalia Jackson, who performed earlier in the program, shouted: “Tell ’em about the dream, Martin.” She had seen him deliver the dream refrain in Detroit two months earlier and was moved by it.

King continued, “Go back to the slums and ghettoes of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.” Jackson shouted again: “Tell ’em about the dream!”

King continued, “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends.” Then he grabbed the podium and set his prepared text to his left. Jones said he turned to the person standing next to him and said: “These people don't know it, but they’re about to go to church.”

The most famous part of the speech almost never happened. And in later years, as Dr. King moved to focusing on opposing the Vietnam War and took up issues like poverty, he became more controversial. From 1965 until his death, the “I Have a Dream” speech was hardly mentioned. It was only upon his death that the speech was resurrected and memorialized as the inspirational beacon it is today.

I personally think that in the same way religious texts are used as guidance for individual behavior, Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech serves as guidance for societal behavior in this complex democratic nation called the United States of America. Just saying those words United States of America while gathering regular news stories these days can give a person pause. How united are we when it feels that we as a nation are as divided as we’ve been since Dr. King’s death?

How is it that hate has become so prevalent? How is it that misunderstanding has become so common? The internet has amplified our individual apathy to sift through the massive array of information and sort fact from fiction. Instead, we often go to our safe spaces and find information that affirms our own thinking because it’s easy, and we have other stuff to tend to in our busy lives. This allows half-truths to gain traction and fuel misunderstanding and hate. 

We don’t mention enough that hate is learned. How do we know this? Because the typical 6-year-old does not naturally hate. Six-year-olds ask “Why?” — they seek to understand the world around them. The answers they are given slowly layer one on top of another … answer after question, question after answer, and with each answer comes an emerging worldview that forms the child, molds the adolescent, shapes the teenager, and creates the adult, which aligns their individual and, in turn, societal behavior to Dr. King’s dream … or not. 

As adults, we find it easy to joke about how as teenagers we think we have all the answers, but that implies we somehow get back to asking questions and learning as adults. The most important part of this is that as adults, we need to rekindle that childhood curiosity of asking why: Why are certain things the way they are? Why do others think the way they do? Why do we, as individuals, think the way we do? Where is the common ground? 

How can we find the middle way to collaborate and find solutions to problems big and small? That is how we understand each other and move forward together.

I believe curiosity comes from education, and that education is a fundamental principle to democracy fueled by an educated citizenry. I was inspired a few short years ago when President Obama and others were begging the question if the time was right to expand our baseline of a free, compulsory education from a high school diploma to a two-year associate degree. He noted how the farmers of the 1890s thought it was crazy to require children to attend school until they were 18 — with the advent of free secondary education, the miracles of the 20th century, sometimes called the American century, were made possible. As technology and society change, where will America’s place in the world be in the 21st century?

A recent study surveyed parents of high school students. They were asked to rank the importance of a college education relative to the benefits that so many of us academics see in education. Research shows that college graduates live longer, are healthier, are more likely to vote and be engaged in their communities, experience greater levels of overall happiness and well-being, have more stable home lives and families, and numerous other benefits. All of those things paled in comparison to the reason these parents wanted their children to go to college, which was to get a good job. This parallels results of the Gallup World Survey, which included 250,000 respondents in more than 100 countries. What was the most important thing people wanted in life? A good-paying job — no matter the country. More and more in today’s modern world, a good-paying job comes with some level of college education. The reality for the foreseeable future is that college has increasingly become a precondition for upward mobility.

As we contemplate that inherent linkage between education beyond high school and securing a good-paying job, we should consider that the national poverty rate has not moved since 1965. The percentage of Americans living in poverty in 1965 was roughly 15 percent. It may vary a percent one way or the other periodically, but the poverty rate remains, to this day, roughly 15 percent of all Americans. 

This stubborn percentage seems inextricably wrapped around the axle of our society. It is tangled in the fabric of our federal and state laws and policies. It is knotted in the strands of our educational system and tightened by the wrenches in our legal system — a system that, according to the Center for American Progress, increased incarceration rates 700 percent between 1970 and 2005, and, without fundamental change, will incarcerate one in three black men at some point in their lifetime.

When we remember Dr. King, it’s important to remember that he believed in the power of education. He believed in education as the primary tool to empower individuals and communities to untangle the complex, inhibiting reality of situational and generational poverty in this country. Additional education also empowers individuals to think critically, solicit opinions and ideas from others to challenge their own way of thinking, to find common ground and solve problems together. And yet surprisingly, the conversation about a college education in this country today is questioning its very value, and policies in several states are moving education from a public right to a private good — available only to the few who can afford it.

In the context of today, it would be easy to feel that we seem more pointed away from than toward Dr. King’s dream. And although he often said in later years that his dream had become a nightmare, Dr. King himself never gave up on that dream. On Christmas Eve 1967, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, he told his congregation:

"I am personally the victim of deferred dreams … but in spite of that, I close today by saying I still have a dream, because, you know, you can't give up in life. If you lose hope, somehow you lose that vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream."

May those words inspire us in the same way that Dr. King’s Mountaintop speech in Memphis did the night before he was assassinated. You may recall that he took us on a mystical journey through time to tell God that given the chance, he would rather live in his time than any other time in the history of the world. There in Memphis in April of 1968, he said, “now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That's a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only-when-it-is-dark-enough … can you see the stars.”

For many of us, in different ways, we could likely say the same thing. The world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. But I hope you agree with Dr. King that somehow, only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.

So let us live in our time today. Let us join together in hope. Let us work together with vitality to stay the course and fight for the inches while we hold true to the vision of the miles we must gain to move those stubbornly unjust numbers of poverty, incarceration, and educational attainment. May we find courage and resilience in knowing that it lies within us, in that unvarnished 6-year-old self we each carry within us, that which can animate and bring to life the dream of social and economic justice, equity and inclusion — and through our individual and collective actions each and every day we can honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his memory.

Please send comments and questions to presblog@mvcc.edu. 

Why I Run

MVCC President Randall VanWagoner running in the 2015 Ted Moore Run/Walk.

Why I Run

I’ve always considered myself an athlete, but I never ran without a ball.

I played a wide variety of sports growing up, but when I went to my one and only day of middle school track practice, I stopped after the first half mile and left to wait for my mom to pick me up. I didn't see the fun in running. Without some kind of ball, I didn't have a “why” to run, so I didn’t.

My running world changed in 2007 when my family and I relocated to the Mohawk Valley. I was encouraged to run in MVCC’s annual Ted Moore Memorial 5K Run/Walk, so I asked my oldest daughter, who was still in elementary school at the time, to run with me. We survived it, and better yet, we had a fun time running together. As we learned about the Boilermaker Road Race, our entire family began running in the 5K each year for that event. We all enjoyed running down Court Street to the finish line with the crowds cheering along both sides of the street. It was like getting the full Boilermaker experience, but only running one-third the distance.

In 2010, Steve Zogby gave me the encouragement to run the Boilermaker 15K. He said, “C’mon, you should do it! All you have to do is make sure you can run six miles and the crowd will carry you the rest of the way.” I since have said those very words to multiple people, trying to pay it forward because I’m so glad I took Steve’s advice. I ran the 15K that year, and thought I had checked it off my bucket list. I kept running the Ted Moore and Boilermaker 5K races with my family each year, thinking that was enough for me.

But over time my “why” became abundantly clear.

We have a Wellness Council at Mohawk Valley Community College, and I attended a workshop on well-being that covered research by the Gallup organization. I made a commitment to improve my physical well-being and set a goal of running the Boilermaker 15K again in 2016. As springtime came, I found myself enjoying the reflective time to run and quiet my mind. I became more centered and focused at work and more present in my interactions with others. I also became more aware of my diet and began eating a little better, which led to lowering my weight, which led to feeling better each day.

My “why” I run became to feel better and be better.

I ran the Ted Moore 5K last spring at my best time ever. We had more than 200 people participate, and had our largest fundraising effort ever for the Ted Moore Memorial Scholarship. It was a great day for the MVCC community. Late last summer, my oldest daughter and I ran in the Crim Festival of Races 10-mile race in Flint, Mich., where I grew up. We were part of a Boilermaker Road Race group that traveled there in a show of solidarity with the City of Flint and its water crisis. The only two road races that sent people were the Boilermaker and the Boston Marathon — a pretty powerful statement.

My “why” I run gained a couple more points: to support great causes and to connect to the best of being human.

I started running every time I traveled somewhere new. I mapped out routes through parts of cities I might not otherwise see. I ran my first-ever Race to the Canal 5K along the Erie Canal.

My “why” I run now includes to see interesting sights and places.

On Boilermaker Sunday 2016, my family and I once again worked our morning routine like clockwork with all the friends, rides, pick-ups, drop-offs, and meet-ups. My wife and youngest daughter ran the 5K, as ever, and our oldest daughter and her friend ran the 15K, as did I. The local adage is true — if we could bottle the sense of community pride that’s evident on Boilermaker Sunday, the other 364 days around here would be incredible. Running down Culver Avenue, the Memorial Parkway, Champlin Avenue, and Whitesboro Street with so many friendly faces is uplifting. The views from Valley View are phenomenal and the feeling of running down a crowded Court Street through the finish line is exhilarating.

My “why” I run now is attached to something bigger than myself. It’s about being part of this community and touching a unique collective experience that can’t be replicated.

I would love to go back and tell my seventh-grade self “why” people should run. I’m forever grateful to this community for helping me discover my own “why”. This year, as the Ted Moore Run/Walk celebrates its 20th anniversary and the Boilermaker celebrates its 40th, I hope even more people discover their “why” and turn out in record numbers.

If you have any questions or comments, you can contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu. 

John D. Plumley — A Life Well-Lived

John D. Plumley speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the renovated John D. Plumley Complex at MVCC's Rome Campus on February 10, 2017.

John “Jack” D. Plumley passed away suddenly on March 9, 2017. The John D. Plumley Complex on the MVCC Rome Campus is named in his honor. It is a fitting tribute to a man who served as Oneida County Executive from 1982-1991 and had the vision to support a vibrant branch campus for MVCC in Rome. In the same way the Rome Campus sits in the geographic heart of Oneida County, Jack Plumley represented the heart of this area. He was open, accessible, challenging, caring, and supportive, and made people’s lives better through his manner and way.

John Plumley at the site of construction of the Plumley Complex at MVCC's Rome Campus in 1990-91.

During my ten years at MVCC, I had the good fortune to get to know Jack through several conversations, correspondence, and a few memorable lunches. He was an incredible storyteller who had a deep knowledge about this county — when it was at its best and when it wasn’t. I learned so much from him. Jack was the kind of person who could get to the heart of a subject and cut through the fluff, often finishing interesting stories with pearls of wisdom like, “there’s always more than one side to a story — remember that,” or “not everyone’s motivations are pure, but make sure yours always are.” After every encounter or exchange I had with Jack, I always found myself motivated to be a better person, work harder, or dream bigger. I imagine his imprint was that way on most others who had the good fortune to have Jack in their sphere.

As we shared some time together at the ribbon-cutting of the John D. Plumley Complex on February 10 — nearly one month to the day prior to his passing — it was great to see the twinkle in his eyes as he took in the transformed facility that began with his vision so many years ago. And just as I thought we were all good, he said, “Every president should know that a college campus is never finished — the work goes on and you can never rest.” I imagine he shared that nugget with me because that is how he lived his life. Every leader should know that a community is never finished — the work goes on and you can never rest.

The legacy of Jack Plumley will not only remain in his incredible family and the MVCC Rome Campus, but in the hearts and minds of so many friends and acquaintances that he guided, mentored, and touched so deeply, or the millions of laughs he created throughout a life worthy of a great story.

If you have any questions or comments, you can contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu. 

The new Mandia Family Learning Commons — a special space for success

Built for success

Where do our students go to identify and find academic support on their pathway to success? It is the place where they can find experts in coping with learning — and life — obstacles to graduation, in a new, inviting space with familiar, welcoming faces.

The Mandia Family Learning Commons is the newest and coolest space for MVCC students on the Utica Campus. Located in the Information Technology Building, the Commons is a multi-functional, collaborative learning space for students to be with each other, with faculty, and with staff to help them advance on their path to success.

As it was in the former Learning Center, the heart of the Commons is the staff who inhabit the new fresh and inspiring space. With full-time professional tutoring in the Math Lab and Writing Lab, the Commons is a tremendous resource for students. Additional tutoring is available in most any discipline or program we offer, and students now have the added benefit of customized space to work with their tutors at computers, if necessary. Open computers are available for students who need to work individually or collaboratively with others.

And the Commons has much more — because of the people who are there to help. 

Four full-time faculty members have relocated their offices within the new space. Representing the disciplines of Reading, Math, English, and Physics, the faculty housed in the Commons are "all in" for student success. They are joined by three Completion Coaches from our Pathway to Graduation Project to help students with issues both in and out of the classroom. For the more complex issues, students can go to a Case Manager from the C3 (College-Community-Connection) Program who can leverage a robust network of community resources related to food, health, housing, transportation, child care, and other barriers that arise to threaten the success of students.

And that's not all! Students and faculty also will benefit from the talents of a librarian and instructional design professional who can provide tremendous resources and guidance to all. While students will draw on the "in-house" librarian talents, faculty can utilize the instructional design resources as they use the "iTeach" lab to explore new technologies and teaching methodologies, and hone their craft for the benefit of students.

While we wait for the last few pieces of furniture to arrive, the positive energy and excitement surrounding the Mandia Family Learning Commons will continue right through and beyond our ribbon-cutting, which is scheduled for Thursday, November 17, at 1:30 p.m.

If you have any questions or comments about this post, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Ceremonies as a Tether Amid Change

Next week, we will welcome students to MVCC at our New Student Convocation. Although I imagine this may have been done in the early days of the College, a ceremony like this has not been held at MVCC in recent memory. It’s an important ceremony to anchor the college experience for new students and frame their time at MVCC to get them off to a great start. New Student Convocation also provides a perfect pairing with graduation — the most visible and significant ceremony of a college experience. 

As another start to an academic year begins for us, I am reminded of the importance that ceremonies, events, and celebrations have for our organizational culture. We live in an age of change, and MVCC, by our very nature as a community college, is constantly engaged, staying ever nimble and responsive to the changes in our community.

This summer, we’ve experienced a number of major changes — a $30 million redevelopment of the Rome Campus; a renovated bookstore and food service area at the Utica Campus; a transformation of the Utica Campus Learning Center into the new Learning Commons; a full replacement of the platform and support columns on Payne Hall; and a redesign of the Academic Affairs administrative structure that also resulted in nearly 70 full-time employees changing offices.

We’ve also recently added new academic programs like small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) Associate in Applied Science degree and Mechatronics Certificate to respond to the region’s emerging UAS and nanotechnology industries, and we’ve relocated our thINCubator and Carpentry/Masonry programs to adjacent spaces on Broad Street in Utica’s Bagg’s Square. In addition, we’ve received major programmatic grants like Title III: Pathway to Graduation Project, College-Community-Connection (C3) program, and the Advanced Institute for Manufacturing that serves manufacturers in the six counties of the Mohawk Valley region — that’s a lot of change!

With so much change in motion, ceremonies, events, and celebrations tether us and provide a certain level of consistency and community that unites us and serves as a reminder of the importance of our mission and connects us to our vision of transforming lives through learning. This week we’ll all gather for our annual Fall Opening and August Institute, which signal the start to the new academic year. Student Welcome Week, Completion Day, Phi Theta Kappa honor society induction ceremony, and other student-focused events help create a rhythm to the fall semester that closes with graduation and our bi-annual Celebration of Success. Our annual Data Summit and January Institute for faculty and staff kick off the spring semester, which winds down with an annual scholarship ceremony, athletics banquet, student honors brunch, and other events that culminate in our large graduation ceremony, Summer Institute and recognition luncheon, and year-end Celebration of Success that all then give way to the altered rhythm of summer in Upstate New York.

The daily experience of working in a community college can be inspiring. Helping students and our community clearly presents a feeling of being part of something bigger than yourself; however, ceremonies, celebrations, and events add something special to the culture of an organization. The addition of New Student Convocation will add a distinctive element for the College and serve as yet another reminder of why change is important in the first place — to enhance the student experience and increase their chances for success.

If you have any questions or comments on this post, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Community's Diversity as a Window to Our Future

A community college is inherently designed to mirror its community. MVCC strives to not only mirror our community but also provide a window to our collective future. The City of Utica is the urban center and largest municipality in Oneida County. With refugees comprising nearly one in four city residents (in addition to the 500 annual newcomers from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic!), our community is incredibly diverse.

MVCC has embraced this aspect of our community through a variety of signature elements that all make the college a distinctive learning environment. Our Educational Opportunity Center at Third and Elizabeth streets in Utica is a hub of community partnerships, including the incredible On Point for College program, to provide a safe and comfortable first point of contact for many refugees and newcomers. The unique one-year certificate in English as a Second Language is a key rung on the educational ladder of success for numerous students who start their educational journey at MVCC.

What continues to give me great pride about working at MVCC is the incredible combination of rigor and support that has somehow been hardwired into our organizational DNA. Anyone attending our “Honors Brunch” celebration event the morning of spring commencement in May will see an absolute rainbow of ethnic and cultural representation in honor students who achieve at the highest levels. Many of them are living examples of hard work paying off, but also of reaching out and accessing all available resources to succeed. The Learning Center at MVCC is just one of several academic supports that the College provides to support students as they raise themselves up to the rigorous standards our faculty maintain in the curriculum.

The nationally recognized Cultural Series and Diversity and Global View graduation requirement at MVCC celebrate the diversity of our area — bringing the world to our campuses, students, employees, and community. Our current challenge, as set forth in our updated Strategic Plan, MVCC Catalyst 2020, is to “advance diversity and inclusiveness” to include diversifying our faculty and staff to better reflect our student population; look for more posts about this in the future.

As we provide innovative programs like mechatronics, semiconductor manufacturing, and unmanned aerial systems that are preparing the workforce of the future for our region, we are also providing access to opportunity for aligning our outreach and support systems to reflect our community. Refugees and newcomers add a distinct richness to our classrooms and campuses that enhance learning and overall student experience — our faculty do an amazing job of making it so. Just as the immigration of the early 20th century continues to define Utica (and our country) today, the influx of newcomers here in the past few decades most certainly will go on to define the remainder of the 21st century.

To further understand the magnitude and significance of the refugee experience in our community, I have provided a great PBS news story link featuring a few of our students as well as our own Ibrahim Rosic, Director of the Learning Center at MVCC.

If you have any questions or comments about this post, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

SUNYCON 2015 – A Window into the Future? (Part 2)

-->Like past SUNYCON agendas, this year’s theme of “Building a New Business Model for the Academy: Partnerships, Affiliations, Mergers, and Acquisitions” planted the seeds of what likely will grow into fundamental change for the SUNY system. 

The biggest question of all is, what change will that be? I don’t come by this prediction lightly, as it is based on my experience of the past four SUNYCON events. The conference provides an active learning environment with powerful speakers and “creative collisions” at the breaks to consider the shifting sands of the postsecondary sector and what will be needed for the SUNY system to clarify and pursue the change necessary for the future.  

Consider the SUNYCON themes and related subsequent actions over the years: 

SUNYCON 2011 – Universities as Economic Engines. Not too much later, we experienced the passing of the Start-Up NY legislation, and today we have 143 new companies that have created more than 4,000 jobs throughout New York.
 
SUNYCON 2012 – Harnessing Systemness and Delivering Performance. We’ve seen continuous progress toward systemness with the work on shared resources, IT platforms, and the seamless transfer initiative. 

SUNYCON 2013 – Building a Smarter University: Big Data, Innovation, and Ingenuity. Not too much later, we saw the development of SUNY Excels and the Performance Improvement Plans. 

SUNYCON 2014 – Executing Change to Drive Collective Impact. Today, SUNY has more than a dozen communities with active partnerships in the Cradle to Career Alliance across the state. 

SUNYCON 2015 – Building a New Business Model for the Academy: Partnerships, Affiliations, Mergers, and Acquisitions. We shall see.

The not-so-subtle pattern of a connection between the SUNYCON theme and some significant forward progress within SUNY is an interesting signpost and source of inspiration for everyone to consider answering the Chancellor’s top ten questions sooner rather than later, because the future will not wait for us.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.