From the President’s Desk: Fall/Winter 2015

Looking out on the late autumn Oswego campus landscape and reflecting back on 2015, I can still feel the electricity and enthusiasm that filled Pearl’s Sunset Strip in West Hollywood during an Oswego alumni event last February. The room literally buzzed from the dozens of Graduates Of the Last Decade (GOLD) and other alumni networking, brainstorming ideas, pitching projects and swapping stories with each other.

Here, in sunny California, our Oswego alumni were connecting and creating and caring about each other’s careers and about the happenings at their beloved college.

As you’ll read in the “Oz to LA” article, West Coast alumni connections to Oswego remain strong despite the nearly 2,700 miles that physically separate them from our lakeside campus. Their energy for their work and their passion for their alma mater are yet another example of the Oswego alumni ties that bind.

That event in LA was one of more than 20 events the college hosted this year across the country, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, Chicago and cities in Florida. No matter where we are or what the season—the first question we hear is: “So how’s the weather in Oswego?”

The shared experience of studying on our lakeside campus unites Oswego alumni, no matter where you are in the country—or in the world. Our physical campus is unique. We have stunning fall foliage, crisp, snowy winters and beautiful sunsets all year round. SUNY Oswego alumni take pride in your ability to withstand the strong winter winds off Lake Ontario and enjoy trying to surpass each other’s accounts of record snowfall storms. Read about one of those storms, the Blizzard of ’66 detailed in a new book by Jim Farfaglia ’77, and see where your class year stacks up in the accompanying Top 10 snowiest seasons chart.

But perhaps, more powerful than even lake-effect storms in uniting our alumni through generations and across great distances is the role that SUNY Oswego has played in your life. During my travels throughout 2015, you expressed gratitude for the life-changing friendships and mind-opening experiences you had here at SUNY Oswego. You can relate to the stories I share about the transformations occurring in our current students and about their dreams being formulated and realized. You know because you experienced this, too. I am confident sending our future graduates into the world knowing that you’ll be there to support and guide them—one Laker to another.

So as the snow begins to fall this holiday season, I hope that no matter where you are, you will carry Oswego with you, as you will always be part of our Oswego family.

Warm wishes,

Deborah F. Stanley, President