State University of New York at Geneseo

Academics

Geneseo is a four-year public liberal arts college. It has 48 undergraduate majors, five graduate programs (Master's only) and 25 interdisciplinary minors. The most popular majors, in descending order, are education, business, the social sciences, biology, and psychology.

The student population is approximately 5,500, with a student/faculty ratio of 19:1 and an average class size of 25. Nearly 90% of Geneseo's full-time faculty holds a Ph.D. or other terminal degree. Geneseo ranks number one in the nation for four-year graduation rates among comprehensive colleges and is tied for highest freshman retention rate out of any public college or university in New York.

Geneseo is part of the New York Space Grant Consortium, and is provided grants by NASA to support outer-space related research on-campus. Due to this participation, Geneseo is designated as a "space-grant" institution.

Humanities and core curriculum

One of the hallmarks of SUNY Geneseo's curriculum is the requirement each student take two survey courses in western humanities, in addition to a wide distribution of core courses in the arts and sciences. Faculty members from various departments teach "Western Humanities 1" and "Western Humanities 2". Individual course syllabi share many historical, philosophical, and literary texts with other courses creating a common knowledge base within the undergraduate student body. Core courses in the humanities, languages, and sciences ensures Geneseo students are well versed in the liberal arts tradition of education.

All Geneseo students must complete the general education curriculum outlined below:

Study abroad

Nearly 40% of Geneseo's students participate in study abroad programs through the College or the SUNY system. One of Geneseo's most popular study abroad programs is its offering of the Humanities I course in either Rome, Athens or New York City, and the Humanities II course in Paris, Prague, El Sauce, or at Oxford University. The most well-known program is the Mediterranean Roots Humanities I program where students travel to Greece, Italy and Spain for (up to) six weeks.

Administration

Following the retirement of long-time President Christopher Dahl, Dr. Denise Battles became the college's president in July 2015.

Rankings and admissions

Geneseo has been regularly profiled in publications such as the Princeton Review, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, Fiske, and US News and World Report.

Other national distinctions include recognition from Money Magazine and Yahoo! Internet Life's 100 "most wired" campuses list (#90 in 1998, #49 in 1999, and in 2000 the list was divided by type of school and Geneseo placed #82 in the "larger universities" category).

SUNY rankings

All SUNY schools are part of the same university system, the State University of New York, but they differ in character, program, quality, and prestige. Of the system's schools, SUNY Geneseo, Stony Brook University, Binghamton University, and the University at Buffalo consistently rank the highest in national publications. In the 2011 Princeton Review report, for example, Geneseo, Binghamton, and Buffalo were ranked within the top 75 for best public college value. Binghamton, Buffalo, and Stony Brook are doctoral-granting universities and Geneseo is a master's-granting college.

Admissions

Geneseo's acceptance rate is 59.1% as of 2015.

Phi Beta Kappa

Geneseo has joined 270 colleges and universities in the nation with chapters of the oldest academic honor society in the United States, Phi Beta Kappa. 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.

The inaugural ΦΒΚ class was inducted to Geneseo's Alpha-Gamma of New York chapter in April 2004.

Campus

SUNY Geneseo is on the Genesee Valley's eastern side. Of Geneseo's approximately 5,000 full-time residents, some 70% work at or are in some way affiliated with the College, making Geneseo a "college town."

The campus is divided between the Academic Quad, "North Side" and "South Side," with all academic buildings contained within the Academic Quad. The South Side has five residence halls and a dining hall. The South Side complex was designed by architect Edgar Tafel, one-time apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright. Tafel also designed Brodie Hall, home of Geneseo's four Arts departments on the Academic Quad. Additionally, 44 on campus townhouses, known as Saratoga Terrace, provide a connective corridor between the South Side and the Academic Quad. The North Side has eleven residence halls, two dining halls and the Lauderdale Health Center. The Academic Quad comprising the Upper and Lower Campuses has the academic buildings, the College Union, Merritt Athletic Center, Wadsworth Auditorium and the Milne Library that offers amazing views of the Genesee valley.

The campus is laid out in generally the same shape as the state of New York; the residence halls are each named after counties within the state, though not all are placed in line with their same geography within the state. (Example: Nassau and Suffolk Halls on South Side, which is the "Long Island" aspect to the state, but Wayne, Niagara, and Onondaga Halls are there.)

In 2003, the college began the largest capital improvement project in the history of the SUNY system. The Integrated Science Facility (pictured right) is a 105,000-square-foot (9,800 m²), $32 million building equipped with a nuclear accelerator. Leslie E. Robertson Associates are the structural engineers in this project. The Center opened in the Spring of 2007. On the new building's opening, Greene Hall (a science building constructed in 1970) was shut down and completely renovated at a cost of $20 million.

One of the main attractions of SUNY Geneseo's campus is the architecture of many of the older buildings. The James B. Welles building was built in 1932 and is the oldest building on campus with arches, gables, and broad-leaf collegiate ivy draping its stone and brick facade. Formerly known as the Winfield Holcomb School, it served as the laboratory school for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. It now houses the departments of Philosophy, Political Science, Foreign Language, and English.

The James V. Sturges building (pictured here File:Sturges Hall at SUNY Geneseo.jpg), the central clock tower of the main Sturges Quad is Geneseo's signature building and contains the Alumni Carillon which chimes on the hour and plays songs at various times during the day. Constructed in 1938, it once served as the administration building and now houses the History, Psychology, Anthropology, Speech Pathology, and Sociology departments. Sturges also holds classrooms and laboratories as well as the Geneseo Speech and Hearing Clinic. Wadsworth Auditorium, (pictured here Image:Wadsworth.JPG) is also one of the oldest buildings on campus.

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." The arboretum is used for teaching and recreation. It also has a gazebo and the college's memorial to four alumni who died in the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, a gift left by the Class of 2002 through the Senior Challenge program.

East of the Academic Quad and up a slight hill is Geneseo's Main street that complements the quaint campus with a variety of shops, restaurants and bars students frequent. Beyond Main Street is the historic village of Geneseo, marked by Victorian architecture, well-kept mansions, fraternity and sorority houses as well as several nineteenth-century churches.

Planned expansion

The Lamron reported SUNY Geneseo plans to acquire and refurbish Doty Hall, one of its former buildings, and to demolish an underutilized structure, the Holcomb Campus School, to build an open air, artificial turf athletic stadium in 2013. Both projects are in progress, with the athletic stadium near completion.

The Lamron reports SUNY Geneseo will acquire Doty Hall and update its electrical and plumbing systems, as well as modernizing the new workspace. SUNY Geneseo will be collaborating with the building's current tenants, the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, who will maintain their center on the building's first floor. SUNY Geneseo will move its Office of Admissions into the building as part of a new, more visible college welcome center. Then the Center for International Students, the Hearing and Speech Clinic, and the Department of Communicative Disorders and Science were all scheduled to move into Doty, but with the program curtailments and the closing of the Communicative Disorder Department new plans are being developed for the space. These moves will free space in Sturges Hall and Erwin Hall and reconnect a highly visible plot of land with the campus.

In addition to providing a turf field for Geneseo's soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse programs, Commencement will be held at the new stadium, eliminating the cost and hassle of annually erecting a temporary stadium in the B lot parking area.

Traditions and campus culture

Geneseo's students celebrate many longstanding traditions and campus legends.

The Bronze Bear

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'". Campus legend also says that if a virgin graduates from the College, the bear will spring to life and run away, a legend that attaches itself to campus statues all over the US. In May 2016, Emmeline was toppled by a tractor trailer and was awaiting repair.

The Greek Tree

In the Sturges quad, students from different Greek organizations sneak about late at night to paint a "Greek tree." [1]. There are so many layers of paint on the tree that the original contours of the bark and trunk are obscured. Despite the years of paint, the tree continues to grow and produce leaves. The exact date when this practice began is unknown, but alumni report that it began sporadically during the 1950s and became regular practice in the mid to late 1960s.

The Seuss Spruce

Also in the Sturges quad is the famous "Seuss Spruce," so called because it looks like a Dr. Seuss illustration. It is said that the tree's shape was due to being weighed down by ice and snow during the particularly tough winter of 1991. Now the tree simply grows in a crooked and slightly spiral shape. It's more likely that the tree is the cultivated variety Picea Glauca 'Pendula' or a similar spruce. Adding to the Seussian quality of the tree is the fact that the bottom branches "fan out" along the ground.

Sunsets

Geneseo is known for visually striking sunsets, with students and alumni saying the sunset at Geneseo was once ranked by National Geographic Magazine as one of the top ten in the world. This claim has since been proved to be false—National Geographic publishes no such ranking—but lives on in campus lore. Near the center of campus, a gazebo provides panoramic views of the Genesee Valley and an unobstructed view of sunsets on clear evenings. Like many college campuses, it is said a couple who kisses in the Gazebo at sunset is destined to be engaged and wed.

Ice hockey games

In recent years, men's ice hockey games in the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena have become major campus events that draw sell-out crowds of students and community members. A pep band has been formed and student groups often offer promotions such as handing out noise makers to the capacity crowds.

Alma mater

The lyrics to the school song, sung at convocation, commencement, and other formal events are as follows:

An older and longer version of the Alma Mater from a 1929 student handbook has three verses and a chorus:

Chorus:
Then cheer for Alma Mater, our foster mother dear.
May her sons and daughters ever, love her from year to year.
May they her memory cherish--in duty never fail,
Nor let her honor perish. To Geneseo all hail!

College seal and logotype

The Geneseo college seal, featured in the infobox above, 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."

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.

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.

Popular Culture

Sciences

Government, business, law

Sports

Faculty

Teams and programs

Geneseo's athletic program is part of the NCAA Division III. They are a member of the State University of New York Athletic Conference. Geneseo has 20 varsity sports programs including basketball ((M)en's and (W)omen's), cross country (M, W), equestrian (W), field hockey (W), ice hockey (M), lacrosse (M, W), soccer (M, W), softball (W), swimming (M, W), tennis (W), indoor/outdoor track & field (M, W), and volleyball (W).

Although they are not NCAA programs, Geneseo also has several very competitive club sports teams that compete in intercollegiate play. These include rowing (M, W), rugby (M, W), baseball (M), ice hockey (W) water polo (M, W), volleyball (M),downhill skiing (M, W), tennis (M), fencing, ultimate frisbee, and cheerleading.

There are also many intramural sport offerings, including the perennial college classic, broomball.

Student organizations

Geneseo students can take part in a wide range of diverse organizations and activities, including The Lamron, an independent student newspaper published since 1922, Geneseo Student Television (GSTV), an award-winning Model United Nations team, a nationally competitive Federal Reserve Challenge club, WGSU, a federally-licensed radio station, five acclaimed a cappella groups (Southside Boys, Exit 8, Hips & Harmony, Emmelodics, and Between the Lines), Musical Theatre Club, and several local and national Greek organizations.

Fraternities

Sororities

Others