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SUNY ESF
State University of New York

The State University of New York's 64 geographically dispersed campuses bring educational opportunity within commuting distance of virtually all New Yorkers and comprise the nation's largest comprehensive system of public higher education.

Chancellor: John B. King Jr.

SUNY website

About SUNY

  • SUNY’s 64 campuses are divided into four categories based on educational mission, the kinds of academic opportunities available, and degrees offered. These are university centers/doctoral granting institutions, university colleges, technology colleges and community colleges. Together they offer the widest selection of higher education opportunities in the United States.
  • The State University offers students a wide diversity of educational options: short-term vocational/technical courses, certificate programs, associate degrees, baccalaureate degrees, graduate degrees and post-doctoral studies. The University offers access to almost every field of academic or professional study somewhere within the system, with  more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs overall.
  • SUNY curricula range from those in the more conventional career fields, such as business, engineering, medicine, teaching, performing arts, social work, finance and forestry, to those concerned with tomorrow's developing and societal needs in the areas of environmental science, urban studies, immunology, information systems, biotechnology, telecommunications, microbiology, and health services management.
  • SUNY has a total enrollment of nearly 467,000. Students pursue traditional study in classrooms and laboratories or work at home, at their own pace, through such innovative institutions as the SUNY Learning Network and Empire State College.
  • SUNY students are predominantly New York State residents, representing every one of the state's 62 counties. SUNY students also come from every other state in the United States, the District of Columbia, from four U.S. territories, and 160 nations around the world.
  • The State University enrolls about 30 percent of all New York State high school graduates, and its total enrollment (full-time and part-time) is nearly 40 percent of the state's entire higher education student population.
  • SUNY students represent the society that surrounds them. In fall 2010, 21.4 percent of all students were minorities; in fall 2009, full-time minority faculty members made up more than 14 percent of all full-time SUNY faculty.
  • As of fall 2009, the University had more than 2.5 million graduates on its rolls. The majority of the University’s alumni reside and pursue careers in communities across New York, contributing to the economic and social vitality of New York state.
  • SUNY is committed to bringing its students the very best and brightest scholars, scientists, artists and professionals. SUNY campuses boast nationally and internationally recognized faculty in all the major disciplines. Their efforts are regularly recognized in numerous prestigious awards and honors.
  • SUNY’s 32,000 faculty have won awards including the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, Fields Medal, Dirac Medal, National Medal of Science, and Grammy, Emmy and Tony awards.
  • State University research contributions are helping to solve some of today's most urgent problems. At the same time, contracts and grants received by University faculty directly benefit the economic development of the regions in which they are located. State University researchers pioneered nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and the supermarket bar code scanner, introduced time-lapse photography of forestry subjects, isolated the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, and developed the first implantable heart pacemaker. Other University researchers continue important studies in such wide-ranging areas as sustainable energy, breast cancer, immunology, marine biology, sickle-cell anemia, and robotics, and make hundreds of other contributions, inventions and innovations that benefit society.