SUNY Empire State College will play a
leadership role in the system’s introduction
of Open SUNY, offering two of the first
degree programs to be powered by this
signature initiative.
State University of New York Chancellor
Nancy L. Zimpher made the announcement
at her annual State of the University address
in January.
“Open SUNY will provide our students
with the nation’s leading online learning
experience, drawing on the power of SUNY
to expand access, improve completion and
prepare more students for success,” said
Zimpher. “In addition to these new, fully online
degree programs, Open SUNY will take
every online course we offer at every SUNY
campus–now upwards of 12,000 course
sections conducted by 35,000 faculty–and
make them easy to find and accessible for
every SUNY student.”
In addition to Open SUNY, the chancellor introduced Open SUNY-plus, designed to encourage students who have dropped out of college to continue and complete their degrees via online study. Empire State College has championed online education for more than two decades and is in the forefront of this innovative approach to course delivery.
“Empire State College has been SUNY’s open institution of higher education for more than 40 years,” said its president, Merodie A. Hancock. “We are proud to play a leading role in advancing Open SUNY and to have two of our high-quality online bachelor’s programs selected for the Open SUNY-plus launch. We are excited that SUNY, and Chancellor Zimpher in particular, is strongly embracing nontraditional students, access and innovative learning.”
Across New York state, 6.9 million adults have a high school diploma, but no college degree, according to SUNY officials. Many want to pursue one, but life commitments such as jobs, children, aging parents, financial limitations and community ties limit their access to higher education. Empire State College has been addressing these challenges and now Open SUNY aims to reach these nontraditional students as well.
Today, about half of Empire State College’s 20,000 students study online and many of the college’s 70,000 alumni have earned their associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s online. Two programs, the B.S. in business, management and economics, with a concentration in human resource management, and the B.S. in science, mathematics and technology, with a concentration in information systems, will be offered to students throughout SUNY and worldwide.
“Open SUNY will completely redefine access to a college degree in our state, reaching every child and adult in every school and home in New York,” said Zimpher, “and reaching them on their terms — in their homes and communities, and on their time, adapting to their schedules.”
Included as part of Open SUNY are built in supports for students and faculty, such as assistance for students, whether they need technical help, tutoring, financial planning, or academic advisement services; and a Center for Online Teaching Excellence, where faculty can opt in to training programs and online fora to broaden their knowledge about developing effective online courses, or share best practices and learn directly from colleagues across SUNY.
The eight Open SUNY-plus degree programs debuted in January were chosen based on a number of factors, including student interest, accreditation and their capacity to meet current and future workforce demand throughout New York state.
SUNY Empire State College was established in 1971 to offer adult learners the opportunity to earn associate, bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the SUNY.