SUNY Announces $4.6 Million in Investment and Performance Fund Awards for North Country Campuses

February 4, 2016

Awards Will Support SUNY’s First Center for Applied Learning, Degree Planning, Outreach to Past Students

Albany – State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher today announced $4.6 million awarded to SUNY campuses in the North Country region from the university system’s Investment and Performance Fund, which facilitates SUNY’s completion agenda by enabling the scale up of evidence-based campus programs to reach more students.

"SUNY campuses in the North Country have a unique strength and capacity for systemness that is evident in the collaborative projects funded by these awards," said Chancellor Zimpher. "Whether it is reaching out to former SUNY students to help them return and finish their degree or ensuring that current students are prepared for career success through SUNY’s first Center for Applied Learning, the North Country initiatives are a remarkable sample of what the Investment and Performance Fund is accomplishing for our students. Congratulations to all of the campuses receiving awards today."

The North Country initiatives announced today are as follows:

  • SUNY Adirondack will receive a total of $1.8 million for three projects, including the creation of a Center for Student Success; the launch of Adirondack Completes, an expansion of existing completion initiatives to include a Finish In 2 on-time completion program and the Degree Works program; and the development of Adirondack Experience, a web-based tool to help students plan and monitor their entire college experience – from application to graduation. Best practices from this initiative will be shared in scale to all institutions, and SUNY Adirondack will take the lead in the North Country region. 

"The Investment and Performance funds will help SUNY Adirondack scale up efforts to support student success and move us closer to our goal of increasing the number of graduates by 50 percent by 2020," said SUNY Adirondack President Kristine D. Duffy. "We are excited about sharing our best practices with our North Country colleagues and will continue to work collaboratively to support the vitality of this great region of New York."

  • Clinton Community College will receive $470,000 to launch the Clinton Community College Pathway initiative, which will support degree planning for students by building bridges between area public high schools and SUNY colleges in the North Country region.

Clinton Community College Interim President Frederick Smith said, "We congratulate our North Country partners on each of their awards and appreciate the Investment and Performance Fund for investing in our region. Clinton is excited to launch our Pathways project, through which our $470,000 award will go directly towards increased access and success for our local students."

  • SUNY Plattsburgh will receive $1 million as the lead campus for SUNY Smart Track Re-Enroll to Complete,a collaborative project involving 29 SUNY campuses that will promote SUNY's completion agenda by encouraging withdrawn SUNY students to return and finish their degree. 
  • SUNY Plattsburgh will receive $250,000 to lead Common Problem Pedagogy (CP2): Advancing SUNY Excels, a four-campus collaborative to establish a new, innovative pedagogy to increase student retention through academic engagement, cross-disciplinary work, and increased community and civic engagement on participating campuses. SUNY Excels is SUNY’s all-campus performance system wherein each institution strives for continuous improvement in the areas of Access, Completion, Success, Inquiry and Engagement. In addition to campuses in the North Country region, collaborating campuses will include SUNY Cortland, SUNY Oneonta, and SUNY Oswego.
  • SUNY Plattsburgh will receive $375,000 to establish a model for collaborative partnerships between SUNY colleges and community based organizations to leverage their unique expertise and knowledge to increase student access and completion.

"We care deeply about providing support and lasting opportunities for all students," said SUNY Plattsburgh President John Ettling. "SUNY's investment in these partnerships and initiatives will pay dividends for current and future students, those returning to higher education, and the greater Plattsburgh community."

  • SUNY Potsdam will receive $750,000 to establish SUNY’s first Center for Applied Learning, which will expand the research, development, testing and implementation of applied learning in collaboration with colleges and universities throughout SUNY.

"SUNY Potsdam is grateful to have our leadership on applied learning — as the first campus within the State University of New York to found a dedicated center for high-impact learning experiences—recognized with such significant support from the SUNY Investment and Performance Fund," said President Kristin G. Esterberg. "This funding will allow us to build scalability, so that models of success for applied learning can be developed here at Potsdam and replicated throughout the system."

About the Investment and Performance Fund
The Investment and Performance Fund was first established by an $18 million allocation in the 2015-16 New York State Budget. In an effort to grow the Fund and extend eligibility to its community colleges, SUNY also pooled from existing resources – the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Open SUNY, the Empire Innovation Program, and $55 million from the NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program – to create a $100 million Expanded Investment and Performance Fund.

Chancellor Zimpher previously announced awards generated by the $18 million State investment. All of the Investment and Performance Fund awards announced to date can also be found online at www.suny.edu/investment-fund. Funding is designed to support commitments campuses have made in their individual Performance Improvement Plans, part of the SUNY Excels performance system.

In November, Chancellor Zimpher launched the Stand with SUNY campaign to secure increased state investment for the system in the upcoming 2016-17 State Budget. In addition to growing the Investment and Performance Fund, the goals of the campaign are to build base funding for all campuses and extend NYSUNY 2020.

About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.


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