SUNY Releases Fall 2011 Report Card, Hosts Inaugural Critical Issues in Higher Education Conference in Buffalo

Buffalo - State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher today released the Power of SUNY Report Card Fall 2011, which measures SUNY’s performance as a system in the 2009-2010 academic year, and delivers on the Chancellor’s promise to hold SUNY accountable to the public. The unveiling of the report card came during Chancellor Zimpher’s opening remarks at SUNY’s inaugural Critical Issues in Higher Education Conference.

The SUNY report card measures the university system's performance in the areas of New York’s greatest social and economic needs, including the alignment of SUNY's research capacity to statewide job growth and the state's ability to capture a greater share of the global green energy market, among other more traditional academic measures. The report card provides a level of public accountability and transparency that New Yorkers - and most Americans - have never seen from public or private institutions of higher education.

“In May, we promised New Yorkers we would be completely transparent about SUNY's successes as well as our shortcomings. Today, our performance in every respect is unveiled for all to see,” said Chancellor Zimpher. “This report card is our message to New York that SUNY is your university; we are a public institution of higher education unafraid to regularly and forthrightly evaluate ourselves so we can provide the best education to our students and be an economic driver for our state.”

“The SUNY report card offers the general public a first look at SUNY’s progress in areas that affect the lives of our students and faculty as well as our business partners and neighbors,” said SUNY Board Chairman Carl T. Hayden. “Thank you to the hundreds of stakeholders who helped us develop this important self-evaluation tool that is truly one of a kind.”

The more than 90 performance measures that are featured in the Report Card stem from SUNY’s strategic plan, The Power of SUNY, and reflect the university’s dual ambition: to enhance its status as one of the nation’s leading providers of public higher education and to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers. SUNY’s first report card was unveiled earlier this year, providing performance data from academic year 2008-09 as well as specific metrics that would be used to measure SUNY's progress.

The Critical Issues in Higher Education Conference is the first in a series of annual gatherings, with an inaugural theme of “Universities as Economic Drivers: Measuring and Building Success.”

In subsequent years, each conference will analyze the most important national topics facing higher education through the lens of the SUNY strategic plan.

The convenings will be developed as traditional academic conferences, featuring the best work conducted nationally in areas that SUNY considers critical to enhancing life in New York. Over the course of two days, plenary speakers will share national best practices in these areas.

“SUNY's Critical Issues conferences are opportunities to cultivate greater understanding among leading scholars and practitioners, elected officials, business representatives, policy makers, and other concerned parties about the central roles that universities play in national, state, and local economies. This year, we are exploring how the regional economic impact of universities can be measured, incentivized, and made more effective,” said Chancellor Zimpher.

“There is much to learn from bringing together leaders and key experts in any field, and we are confident that by sharing ideas, practices, and research findings with colleagues from around the world, we will shed new light on our collective work and find even greater ways to rebuild a thriving new economy for New York State.”

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 467,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses with nearly 3 million alumni around the globe. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu