M’thinks Niccoli, though viciously attacked by web loonies, overplayed her hand — four ministers at the capital? Really? But Amedore as state senator, given the times we live in, should have soundly deplored the kind of incendiary language web crazies put forth.
If this be the first shot in this campaign, I cringe at what may be coming.
They like Al
SUNY Ulster trustees Chairman Tim Sweeney sounded almost relieved when asked to assess the college’s newest president, Alan Roberts, late of Indian River, Fla., after a year on the job.
“We actually got the right guy. He’s been terrific,” said Sweeney, a board member for six years. The consequences of picking the wrong “guy” (there was a woman educator among the four finalists) would have been severe.
According to trustees, Roberts, 63, was among four well-qualified finalists who toured the Stone Ridge campus a year ago. A self-described hands-on administrator, Roberts seems to have clicked with trustees and the college community, and perhaps as importantly with county government. While he won’t be officially “inaugurated” until October, Roberts will mark his first anniversary in office next week.
Alan Roberts.
It seems the new hire has provided something the board has been looking for lo these many years of local economic stagnation. “He really understands workforce training,” Sweeney said, something most people thought for decades that the college already well understood.
“We were quite antiquated as a board,” Sweeney said, revealing perhaps more than he should have. Since its establishment in the hard-to-reach apple orchards of Stone Ridge, SUNY Ulster has fallen short of being considered a cutting-edge institution. Recent affiliations with progressive Big Sister SUNY New Paltz have raised the college’s profile.
“It’s a new day,” says Roberts. “We were all about file folders, pencils and papers. Now it’s all data-driven.”
Some of the data is troubling. Enrollment has drifted downward over the past few years. The college expects to lose some 200 full-time students this year (about 3 percent). Spending has been cut along with staff and tuition will be raised by $100 (the first increase in three years). County support remains flat, though Roberts says the county supports the college in other ways.
Last month the county legislature gave its unanimous approval to Roberts’ first budget. He said he has established a good working relationship with legislators and County Executive Mike Hein.
Among Roberts’ biggest challenges are recruiting graduates from the college’s primary market area. Graduations at local high schools have been declining across the board as the population stagnates. According to a state study, only 40 percent of recent graduates seeking higher education chose the college over four-year schools.
Roberts says he has pursued strategies to deal with that situation. Closer ties to BOCES training programs have been established. There are efforts to expand enrollment at the new urban campus in Kingston. Others like it may be on the drawing board. “We’ll have more definitive plans by this time next year,” Roberts said. There could be a series of satellite centers around the county.
Notably absent from those plans is the establishment of dormitories at the college, for years seen as something of a panacea to attract students. Dorms, put up at Dutchess Community College a few years ago, are no longer in the mix. “We’ve worked out an agreement with the High Falls Water District to serve our present needs, and it does not include dorms,” Roberts said.
The new broom has been busy.
The official inauguration of Roberts, the college’s sixth president, will take place at Quimby Theater on the Stone Ride campus at 1 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7.
No big deal not pledging allegiance to a piece of cloth. Watch Clark’s video of the June CC meeting, where I studiously remained seated during the pledge and even sillier “moment of silence”. However, soliciting questions and not answering them is another matter. Don’t tell me THAT is a precept of Quakerism!!!