The State University of New York, SUNY, is the largest comprehensive public university system in the United States. It was established in 1948 and consists of 64 universities located within the State of New York, including such prestigious schools as Stony Brook University, The Fashion Institute of Technology, Binghamton University and The University at Buffalo. SUNY Korea was established in March 2012 as the first American university in Korea’s only smart city, Songdo. As the first branch of Stony Brook University built outside of the United States, it represents a groundbreaking effort to provide world-class education across the globe. Every year, SUNY Korea continues to expand its program offerings in a variety of academic fields that include engineering, fashion, science, business, and more.Currently, SUNY Korea is offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Technological Systems Management, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and Business Management from Stony Brook University (SBU). We also offer Fashion Design and Fashion Business Management through the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). Students in these programs have the opportunity to take courses in Korea and the U.S. At both locations, students can expect the same high-quality curricula and faculty that have become a hallmark of the State University of New York system.To accommodate students from around the globe and to make their college life memorable, we offer affordable on-campus housing, a wide variety of scholarships and diverse student activities. Students will also have the opportunity to form a global network with students from neighboring universities on the Incheon Global Campus. At SUNY Korea, we cherish ethical integrity and strive to teach our students to serve others with humility and ethical integrity. Our graduates will be history makers and change this world for the better.VISIONTo foster leaders who are able to resolve global challenges creatively and open doors to a new era full of possibilities. MISSIONTo become an exemplary higher education institution which thrives in today’s fast-paced society and beyond.SUNY Korea House is not only a “blueprint” of our university’s values, educational ideology, and management philosophy, but also a friendly “manual” that answers the question: “Why SUNY Korea?” SUNY Korea House explains the university’s mindset overall and our concept of exemplary leaders. It houses the ways that we educate our students and scaffold the capabilities needed and expresses the symbolic meaning and the spirit of SUNY Korea.New York is one of the last states to set up a state college and university system. The first colleges were established privately, with some arising from local seminaries. But New York state had a long history of supported higher education prior to the creation of the SUNY system. The oldest college that is part of the SUNY System is SUNY Potsdam, established in 1816 as the St. Lawrence Academy. In 1835, the State Legislature acted to establish stronger programs for public school teacher preparation and designated one academy in each senatorial district to receive money for a special teacher-training department. The St. Lawrence Academy received this distinction and designated the village of Potsdam as the site of a Normal School in 1867. On May 7, 1844, the State legislature voted to establish New York State Normal School in Albany as the first college for teacher education. In 1865, the privately endowed Cornell University was designated as New York's land grant college, and it began direct financial support of four of Cornell's colleges in 1894. From 1889 to 1903, Cornell operated the New York State College of Forestry, until the Governor vetoed its annual appropriation. The school was moved to Syracuse University in 1911. It is now the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. In 1908, the State legislature began the NY State College of Agriculture at Alfred University.In 1946-48 a Temporary Commission on the Need for a State University, chaired by Owen D. Young, Chairman of the General Electric Company, studied New York's existing higher education institutions. It was known New York's private institutions of higher education were highly discriminatory and failed to provide for many New Yorkers. Noting this need, the commission recommended the creation of a public state university system. In 1948 legislation was passed establishing SUNY on the foundation of the teacher-training schools established in the 19th century. Most of them had already developed curricula similar to those found at four-year liberal arts schools long before the creation of SUNY, as evidenced by the fact they had become known as "Colleges for Teachers" rather than "Teachers' Colleges." On October 8, 1953, SUNY took a historic step of banning national fraternities and sororities that discriminated based on race or religion from its 33 campuses. Various fraternities challenged this rule in court. As a result, national organizations felt pressured to open their membership to students of all races and religions. The SUNY resolution which was upheld in court states:Resolved that no social organization shall be permitted in any state-operated unit of the State University which has any direct or indirect affiliation or connection with any national or other organization outside the particular unit; and be it furtherResolved that no such social organization, in policy or practice, shall operate under any rule which bars students on account of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or other artificial criteria; and be it furtherResolved that the President be, and hereby is, authorized to take such steps as he may deem appropriate to implement this policy, including the determination of which student organizations are social as distinguished from scholastic or religious, and his decision shall be final.Despite being one of the last states in the nation to establish a state university, the system was quickly expanded during the chancellorship of Samuel B. Gould and the administration of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who took a personal interest in the design and construction of new SUNY facilities across the state. Rockefeller championed the acquisition of the private University of Buffalo into the SUNY system, making the public State University of New York at Buffalo.
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