The State University of New York, Empire State University (also referred to as Empire State University or SUNY Empire) is a public university headquartered in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.
Empire State University is a multi-site institution offering associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, as well as distance degrees through the Center for Distance Learning. The university has approximately 12,000 undergraduate students and has an acceptance rate of 51%. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
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History
Empire State College was designed by then SUNY Chancellor Ernest Boyer in a document titled "Prospectus for a New University College." In 1971, Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the State University of New York, conceived a new college for the state's public university: a college dedicated to adult student-centered education. Empire State College was designed removing impediments to access such as time, location, institutional processes, and curricular customs. In this design, students would individually define their academic needs, purposes, and efforts. The college would be flexible in supporting them through its faculty, policies, and procedures, to achieve college-level learning.
Mascot
In 2020, Empire State University named its first-ever mascot, Blue the Bluebird. A campus-wide vote took place and Blue the Bluebird beat out other finalists, Cam the Chameleon and Van the Vanguard. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni cast 9,922 total votes in the finals. The bluebird is New York's state bird.
Academics
The university offers undergraduate and graduate distance education, extensive transfers of credits from other universities, prior-learning assessment for knowledge gained through independent studies, standardized evaluations, and the opportunity to design one's own degree with an academic advisor or mentor.
Rankings
In 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked Empire State University No.151-165 out of 171 Regional Universities North, No.57-60 in Top Public Schools, tied at No.392 in Nursing, and No.161 in Top Performers on Social Mobility.
Notable alumni
Stephen Chan (American politician), NY State Senator
Amy Arbus (2003), photographer
Ita Aber, artist and curator
Kenny Barron (1978), jazz pianist
Ginny Brown-Waite (1976), former member U.S. House of Representatives
Herman Benson (1975), Union Reformer
Dawoud Bey (1990), photographer
Frank Enea (1993), musician and composer
Alice Fulton (1978), English professor, winner of the 1991 MacArthur Fellows Program Award, commonly referred to as the "genius" award, for poetry
Susan Gibney, actress
Deborah Gregory (1986), author of Cheetah Girls
Karl Grossman (1976), professor of journalism SUNY Old Westbury, author, TV program host
Bob Herbert (1988), The New York Times columnist
Rich Hickey (1992), creator of Clojure programming language
Erick Johnson, American contemporary artist
Bernard Kerik (2002), former Commissioner of the New York Police Department
James J. LeCleir (1974), U.S. Air Force Major General