B e a c m k o ! c l e W SUNY, HARTWICK STUDENTS
HOMETOWN ONEONTA !
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& The Otsego-Delaware Dispatch
VISIT THE Volume 7, No. 49
City of The Hills
NEW
WWW.ALLOTSEGO.COM
Complimentary
Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, August 28, 2015
DOUBLE RETURN
6,000 back At suny oNEONTA, 1,600 at hARTWICK
FOCUS ON DIVERSITY: SUNY Oneonta will be reopening the expanded Center for Multi-Cultural Experiences under the direction of Chief Diversity Officer Terrence Mitchell, at left. At Hartwick College, Prof. Harry Bradshaw Matthews has organized a monthly series of events, each month focusing on Latinos, LGBT, women and the like/ DE-
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Tom Rathbone, SUNY Oneonta associate vice president/facilities, shows off a unisex, ADA-compliant bathroom. Restrooms in five buildings have been redone/DETAILS, B1
TAILS, B1
SUNY ONEONTA
Founded: 1889 Enrollment: 6,000 May Graduates: 1,400 Alma Mater: “Shout the name –’tis Oneonta” Top Five Majors: Education, Biology, Business Economics, Psychology, Music Industry UNUSUAL CLUBS: Harry Potter Club, Knit-Wits, (knitting club), Zombie Defense Corps
• HARTWICK COLLEGE
Founded: 1797 Moved To Oneonta: 1927 Enrollment: 1,411 May Graduates: 322 Alma Mater: “Oyaron, Hill of Dreams” Popular Majors: Liberal arts, sciences most unusual clubs: Alternative Realities (gaming), Fair Trade Club (promotes use and sale of Fair Trade products on campus), Guiding Eyes for the Blind (students raise Guiding Eyes puppies on campus), Not So Sharp (a capella group); 70+ in all.
Ian Austin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
SUNY’s 3-Year Plan Aims To Make Sure Undergrads Succeed
New Hartwick VP’s Aim: Data-Based Recruitment McGrath Achieved Success At Norwich, Medaille
Kleniewski: Student Success Matters Most By JIM KEVLIN
ONEONTA
ONEONTA
W
By JIM KEVLIN
hile colleges strive to get their students to graduate in four years, you may not know that the six-year graduation rate is higher education’s standard measure. “After that, there’s a big drop-off,” said SUNY Oneonta President Nancy Kleniewski in an interview anticipating the 2015-16 school year, which begins Monday, Aug. 31. Nationally, the six-year rate for four-year schools is in the low 40 percentages. SUNY Oneonta’s is 73 percent, said Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA Kleniewski. “We’re doing Ask Nancy Kleniewski much better than average,” she about that red water Please See PLAN, A7 bottle.
N
orwich University, founded in 1819 in the Green Mountains of central Vermont, was the first college in the nation to teach engineering. But, as it diversified and grew, the 2,200-student institution – a bit larger than Hartwick College – had moved away from its roots. “We had lost our market share of engineers,” said Karen P. McGrath, then vice president of enrollment management at Norwich, now – since May – assuming the same title and responsibilities at the 1,600-student college on Oneonta’s Oyaron Hill. Founded in 1797 in Hartwick Seminary, community leaders lured it to the growing city’s campus in 1927. As Norwich trustees debated how to continue expanding its franchise, the next step seemed clear: To recapture
Jim Kevlin/HOMETOWN ONEONTA
Karen P. McGrath will be applying the science of enrollment management to Hartwick recruitment
its legacy by increasing its engineering enrollment from 50 to 100. Such a specific goal mattered, said McGrath: “You have to put a line on the wall.” In the not-so-distant old days, college admission departments depended on direct mail – mostly, of bulky cataPlease See DATA, A3
HOMETOWN ONEONTA, OTSEGO COUNTY’S LARGEST CIRCULATION NEWSPAPER 2010 WINNER OF The Otsego County Chamber/KEY BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
15% OFF WINE 15%(MIX OFF WINE & MATCH) (MIX & MATCH)
LOCATED IN THE HANNAFORD PLAZA