Former name | Wadsworth Normal and Training School (1867–1871) Geneseo Normal and Training School (1871–1905) Geneseo Normal School (1905–1942) Geneseo State Teachers College (1942–1948) State University of New York Teachers College at Geneseo (1948–1962) [1] |
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Motto | To Learn, To Search, To Serve (SUNY motto) |
Type | Public liberal arts college |
Established | 1867 |
Parent institution | State University of New York |
Academic affiliations | Space-grant |
Endowment | $31.4 million (2019) [2] |
President | Denise Battles |
Provost | Mary C. Toale |
Academic staff | 241 (92% full-time) [3] |
Students | 4,910 (2021) [4] |
Undergraduates | 4,828 (2021) [4] |
Postgraduates | 82 (2021) [4] |
Location | , , United States |
Campus | Rural (small town) 220 acres (0.89 km2) |
Colors | Blue and Gray [5] |
Nickname | Knights |
Mascot | Victor E. Knight |
Website | geneseo.edu |
The State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo State College or, colloquially, "Geneseo") is a public liberal arts college in Geneseo, New York. It is New York's public honors college and part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. The college was founded in 1867 as the Wadsworth Normal and Training School before it became part of the new State University of New York system as a state liberal arts college in 1948. [6]
The initial predecessor to SUNY Geneseo opened in 1867 as the Wadsworth Normal and Training School through an act of the New York State Legislature. However, the legislature later changed the new college's name to the Geneseo Normal and Training School before it officially opened on September 13, 1871. [7]
In 1962, the school adopted its current name, State University of New York College at Geneseo. Just two years later, in 1964, the school began to offer four-year bachelor's degrees in subjects other than education. [8]
Geneseo is a public liberal arts college with 61 undergraduate majors, 5 master's programs, and 67 interdisciplinary minors. The most popular majors, in descending order, are education, business, the social sciences, biology, and psychology. [9]
Geneseo is part of the New York Space Grant Consortium, [10] and is provided grants by NASA to support outer-space related research on-campus..
Following the retirement of long-time President Christopher Dahl, Denise Battles became the college's president in July 2015. [11]
Academic rankings | |
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Master's | |
Washington Monthly [12] | 1 |
Regional | |
U.S. News & World Report [13] | 12 |
Geneseo's acceptance rate is 65% as of 2021. [14]
Geneseo has a chapter of the oldest academic honor society in the United States, Phi Beta Kappa. [15] SUNY's four university centers already had chapters; Geneseo's establishment of a chapter is significant because it was the first (and is currently the only) of New York's thirteen state comprehensive colleges to receive the honor. [16]
The inaugural ΦΒΚ class was inducted to Geneseo's Alpha-Gamma of New York chapter in April 2004. [15]
At the far end of the South Village Residences, the college maintains the 20-acre (81,000 m2) Spencer J. Roemer Arboretum wherein are preserved "more than 70 species of trees, shrubs and wildflowers, including a magnificent group of oak trees which are more than 200 years old, and several black walnut trees estimated to be over 100 years old." [17]
Just off campus, in the center of Main Street in Geneseo sits the famous Bronze Bear statue. "The Bear" also plays host to any number of spontaneous decorations and pranks throughout the academic year. A story also circulates that one of the wealthy Wadsworth daughters saw the bear fountain in a small town in Germany, fell in love with it, bought it, and sent it back to Geneseo in the early 19th century. This story is unverified, but an excerpt from a history of the family that settled the valley implies that this is not true, and that the fountain was designed and built for its current location: "[Main Street] is still dominated by a drinking fountain for horses dedicated to Mrs. Emmeline Austin Wadsworth. For some obscure reason its designer placed a short pole in its center on top of which sits a cunning little iron bear, who is generally known as 'Aunt Emmeline'". [18]
The Geneseo college seal was unveiled in July 1968. According to the college's office of publications, the seal is a representation of the college's location and mission: "The circular design features a flame from the torch of knowledge surrounded by leaves symbolic of the bucolic setting of SUNY Geneseo and its growth. Both are atop waves symbolizing the historic Genesee River." [19]
In 1986, the college designed a logo to "provide the College with an identity mark that was more readily identifiable than the College Seal and was not meant to replace the College Seal." Again drawing on the college's unique surroundings, "the graphic underneath the word 'Geneseo' symbolizes the rolling and rural character of the surrounding Genesee Valley." The typeface used in this logo, and in many other college publications, is Galliard. [19]
In October 2012, Geneseo unveiled a new logotype, featured in the infobox above. Bill Caren, Geneseo's Associate Vice President of Enrollment, stated the new word mark reflected "[Geneseo's] competitors' logos," which are less stylized. "If [Geneseo] wants to be perceived in the same category as its competitors," Caren added, "it would be good to have a logo that corresponds on the same level." The logotype was met with mixed responses by the student body, although its implementation throughout campus continued unhindered. [20]
Greek life began at Geneseo in 1871, originally as literary societies. The college hosts several local Greek organizations along with national organizations, as is common in the SUNY schools. As of 2019, about 30% of students were active in either social or professional and service Greek organizations. [21]
Livingston County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,834. Its county seat is Geneseo. The county is named after Robert R. Livingston, who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase. The county is part of the Finger Lakes region of the state.
The State University of New York is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by chancellor John B. King, the SUNY system has 91,182 employees, including 32,496 faculty members, and some 7,660 degree and certificate programs overall and a $13.37 billion budget. Its flagship universities are SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island in southeastern New York and SUNY Buffalo in the west. Its research university centers also include SUNY Binghamton and SUNY Albany.
State University of New York at Oswego is a public university in Oswego, New York. It has a total student population of 6,756 and the campus size is 700 acres.
Monroe Community College(MCC) is a public community college in Monroe County, New York. It is part of the State University of New York. The college has two campuses; the main campus in the town of Brighton, and the Downtown Campus in the City of Rochester. The college also has off-site learning at the Applied Technologies Center, Monroe County Public Safety Training Facility, and offers online classes. As of 2023, MCC has enrolled more than a half a million students.
Geneseo is a village in and the county seat of Livingston County in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States, south of Rochester. The name "Geneseo" is an anglicization of the Iroquois name for the earlier Iroquois town there, Gen-nis-he-yo, which means "beautiful valley".
James Jeremiah Wadsworth was an American politician and diplomat from New York.
Geneseo is a town in Livingston County in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. It is at the south end of the five-county Rochester Metropolitan Area. The population of the town was 10,483 at the 2010 census.
The Rochester Area Colleges is a consortium of higher education institutions in the Rochester, New York metropolitan area in the United States. Founded in 1970, Rochester Area Colleges has numerous area public and private colleges as members and provides collaborative working opportunities for colleges and their students. The association aims to support career development, placement, and experiential education in the region. The University of Rochester is generally regarded as the premier institution within the consortium.
Walter Harding (1917–1996) was a distinguished professor of English at the State University of New York at Geneseo and internationally recognized scholar of the life and work of Henry David Thoreau. Harding was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and received his B.S. from Bridgewater State College in 1939, M.A. from the University of North Carolina in 1947 and a Ph. D. from Rutgers University in 1950.
PDK International is an international professional organization for educators. Its main office is in Arlington, Virginia. It was founded on January 24, 1906, at Indiana University.
The Delphic Fraternity, Inc., also known as Delphic of Gamma Sigma Tau (ΓΣΤ), is an American multicultural fraternity. It was originally founded in New York State in 1871 as a literary society and was re-established in 1987 as a multicultural fraternity. It was a founding member of the National Multicultural Greek Council.
Jeffrey J. Clarke is the current Executive Chairman at Florists' Transworld Delivery.
James Wadsworth was an influential and prominent 18th- and 19th-century pioneer, educator, land speculator, agriculturalist, businessman, and community leader of the early Genesee Valley settlements in Western New York State. He was the patriarch of the prominent Genesee Valley Wadsworths.
The Treaty of Big Tree was a formal treaty signed in 1797 between the Seneca Nation and the United States, in which the Seneca relinquished their rights to nearly all of their traditional homeland in New York State—nearly 3.5 million acres. In the 1788 Phelps and Gorham Purchase, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) had previously sold rights to their land between Seneca Lake and the Genesee River. The Treaty of Big Tree signed away their rights to all their territory west of the Genesee River except 12 small tracts of land for $100,000 and other considerations. The money was not paid directly to the tribe, but was to be invested in shares of the Bank of the United States, and to be paid out to the Senecas in annual earnings of up to six percent, or $6,000 a year, on the bank stock.
Lambda Pi Upsilon Sorority, Latinas Poderosas Unidas, Inc, is a Latina oriented national sorority founded in 1992 at the State University of New York at Geneseo. Its founders believed that the problems of womanhood, particularly those of Latinas, needed to be addressed and resolved on campus by seeking unity and cultural identity.
The Geneseo Central School District is a public school district in Geneseo, New York, United States. The district encompasses 70 square miles. "Geneseo" in the Seneca language means "pleasant valley".
William A. Brodie (1841–1917) was a Scots-American businessman and Freemason. He was Grand Master of Masons in the state of New York in 1884 and in that capacity laid the foundation stone of the Statue of Liberty on August 5, 1884.
Delta Kappa Fraternity (ΔΚ) was an American national fraternity that existed from 1920 to 1964.
Rev. William Thomas Amiger (1870–1929) also known as W.T. Amiger, was an American college president, academic administrator, Baptist minister, missionary, and educator. He was the president of State University at Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky; and president of American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee. Amiger was a missionary in Liberia, West Africa.