From the President’s Desk

Throughout our 150-year history, a hallmark of an Oswego education has always been an emphasis on learning by doing. As I travel around the country, alumni from every era share stories of Oswego professors who involved them as equals in important research and creative projects. The pages of this magazine are brimming with examples, like Peggy La Tulip Focarino ’77, whose love of physics was nurtured in Oswego’s labs and now inspires her as she leads the U. S. Patent Office. RIT Chemistry Professor Todd Pagano ’96 has become a national advocate for involving undergraduates in scientific inquiry and has personally opened the doors to meaningful research for hundreds of deaf students. Debra Schutt ’77 takes skills she learned alongside Jon Vermilye ’66 and Ken Stone ’68 in Waterman Theatre to adorn the sets of HBO productions.

Now we are embarking on a new era of faculty/student collaboration. Oswego professors share their labs and studios with current undergraduates who contribute substantively to scholarly and artistic pursuits, and often present the results alongside their professors at conferences around the country and the world. Academic departments create capstone experiences to help students put their classroom learning into action. We have sought out external funding to help undergraduates study abroad. According to the Provost’s Office, we achieved a 23 percent increase in faculty-led student undergraduate research experiences during the 2010-2011 academic year, thanks in part to the donor-funded Summer Scholars program. We have also seen a 45 percent increase in campus grants to students for research and creative activity.

These types of opportunities are at the heart of the Oswego experience, and we are proud to make them possible for our students.

Deborah F. Stanley
President

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