SUNY chancellor visits north country colleges, JCC and Canton

Feb. 15—WATERTOWN — During a visit to the Jefferson Community College campus on Wednesday, the new chancellor of the State University of New York, John B. King Jr., said he was impressed by the school's commitment to serving its students, especially those connected to the military.

Mr. King toured JCC Wednesday morning, speaking with students and seeing the college at work for a normal spring semester day.

"Students talked about how important it is to get good advice, and how much they appreciate being part of a community that recognizes the importance of military service," he said.

Mr. King said SUNY is committed to supporting veterans and military service members into the future, with expansions to programs that focus on their experiences and needs. He said he SUNY Board of Trustees is working to expand the prior learning assessment program, which gives service members and veterans college credit hours at SUNY schools for training and job experience they earned while on active duty.

"We think that's an important step to expand that opportunity," he said. "We know it will make it easier for students to find their way to college, and through college."

He said recognizing and rewarding other job training, like police and EMT certificates, union training and other alternative educational experiences is another way SUNY can better support its students and their learning.

"We want those kinds of experiences to be recognized with credits, and to help students get started on their path to a degree," he said. "For Jefferson Community College, that will help accelerate the many successful initiatives that are already underway."

He lauded the JCC nursing program, which awards an associate of applied sciences in nursing after two years and prepares students to take the NCLEX exam that all registered nurses have to take.

"I was impressed, talking with the students in the nursing program, who will move right into great jobs in the health care field," he said.

He also lauded JCC's mandatory first-year course that aims to help students transition from K-12 style education into the collegiate system, and JCC's esports team, which joined the National Junior College Athletic Association in 2022.

"Who knew that esports could be such a compelling athletic competition for students?" Mr. King said. "Jefferson Community College did, and it invested in an esports center that rivals the best across the SUNY system."

Mr. King's visit to JCC was his 11th campus visit this year, as he tours the 64-campus SUNY system throughout the semester. On Wednesday afternoon, he visited SUNY Canton in St. Lawrence County.

At SUNY Canton, Mr. King toured the Dr. Mary Ann Caswell Nursing Simulation Hospital in Wicks Hall and talked with nursing faculty about the need to build the high-demand program.

SUNY Canton President Zvi Szafran said that faculty pay is an issue, as is finding spaces for students to get clinical experience.

Mr. King said SUNY is exploring ways to incentivize nurses to obtain master's degrees while working so they could pursue teaching roles.

SUNY Canton students can get clinical experience at Claxton-Hepburn and Carthage hospitals locally and travel to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, where they can experience a more comprehensive array of situations.

SUNY supports a bill that would allow students to get up to 30% of their clinical experience through virtual reality.

"In these small populations, nursing students don't get to experience all they can in a bigger situation," Mr. Szafran said. "Having virtual reality is the next best thing."

Mr. King, who became the 15th SUNY chancellor on Jan. 9, was the secretary of education under President Barack Obama during the president's last year in office, and is a former Democratic candidate for the governor of Maryland. A Brooklyn native, born to parents who worked in the New York City school system, Mr. King said protecting and enhancing public education has been his life's work.

"Both my parents passed away when I was a kid, my mom when I was 8 and my dad when I was 12," he said. "If not for the amazing New York City public school teachers I had, I would not be standing here today. They saved my life by making school a place that was nurturing, supportive, safe, engaging, and because of the role teachers played in my life, I dedicated my career to public education."

Colleges, both public and private, have been going through a period of severe instability in recent years. High debt loads, low application numbers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and skyrocketing costs for students have driven dozens of private schools out of business, and threatened a number of public colleges. Staff at SUNY campuses have recently sounded the alarm over years of underfunding from the state government, with some schools operating at budget deficits.

On Wednesday, Mr. King said he has high hopes for the longevity of the SUNY system and its financial health. He said there's been a long commitment by state government officials.

"We've been fortunate in New York that we've had a deep commitment from governors and legislators for generations in investing in SUNY and making sure that SUNY is an affordable, high-quality option for families," he said.

He said the Tuition Assistance Program received a bump in state funding in the 2023 state budget, and he's hopeful that the 2024 budget will provide SUNY with the $120 million increase in funding that the trustees called for in their budget request this year.

"We are hopeful that we will see that kind of investment," he said.

Mr. King plans to continue his tour Thursday at SUNY Oneonta.