SYRACUSE -- The Chancellor of the State University of New York is touring campuses across the state to launch a new intitiative, "The Power of SUNY."
"This is the big idea some would say the big hairy audacious goal that is driving our plan." Chancellor Nancy Zimpher told an audience at Onondaga Community College Friday.
Zimpher figures that with 64 campuses, 88,000 employees and nearly a half million students, the SUNY system can lead New York's economic resurgence. The presentation was long on rhetoric and short on specifics but essentially the "Power of SUNY" would utilize the academic and physical resources of the university system to help with such things as research and development for entrepreneurs in both the private and public sectors.
"I think on everyone's mind is their future." Zimpher told CNY Central, "Are they going to have a job? Are their children going to have jobs? Are their kids going to stay to live and work in New York? We are the engine that can make that happen."
The initiative will require the support of legislative leaders at a time of a state budget crisis in which higher education is on the chopping block. According to State Senator David Valesky, "There are many things we can do from a legislative perspective to unshackle SUNY to make it easier for them to be the economic driver they can be. That's not a dollars and cents thing."
Chancellor Zimpher says this summer campuses will set up task forces to fine tune how initiatives outlined Friday will fit into specific communities. Then everyone should have a better idea of the benefits and the costs of "The Power of SUNY."
For complete details, see: www.suny.edu/powerofsuny
