SUNY Oneonta's ninth president inaugurated

Oct. 14—The ninth president of SUNY Oneonta was inaugurated Friday, Oct. 14.

Alberto J. F. Cardelle became the first president at any State University of New York college of Cuban-American heritage. He was feted by colleagues, politicians, students and alumni. The SUNY Oneonta Latin Jazz Ensemble directed by Robert Roman performed two songs in between speakers and performed the recessional.

Cardelle asked that his favorite song, "Siboney," be performed during the ceremony, emcee Karen Brown, senior enrollment management officer and executive director of admissions at SUNY Oneonta, said after the song was performed.

Javier Cevallos, Harvard Graduate School of Education president in residence, who is a longtime colleague and friend of Cardelle, said the song was one of his favorites also and never thought he'd be speaking following a performance of the song.

Cevallos said he has known Cardelle since they worked at East Stroudsburg University and knows he will be a great president at SUNY Oneonta because he is "decisive, respected, analytical, genuine, optimistic and nimble, in other words a D-R-A-G-O-N."

SUNY Oneonta's mascot is the Red Dragons and when Cevallos finished his speech, several students in the audience cheered.

Several students printed a photo of Cardelle's head and glued it to a foam board and stick that they held up when he entered and exited the Dewar Arena in Alumni Hall. Cardelle gave them two thumbs up as he walked into the arena and waved as he exited the arena. Students also waved them right after he was installed as the new president. Cardelle said they should save them for Halloween.

Prior to installing Cardelle as the new president, Interim SUNY Chancellor Deborah Stanley announced, "This institution and others around the state have earned the designation as a university" within the last week.

She said Cardelle is the right person to be at the helm as the college faces its challenges and expands.

Most of the speakers marveled at the fact that the college has had only eight other presidents in its 133-year history. Cardelle was hired as the ninth president in July 2021 and began Sept. 6, 2021.

"From his arrival he strived to be a part of the campus and the local community," Brown said. "One of the first things he did was race in the 28th annual Pit Run."

Jennifer Regg, an administrative assistant at Milne Library, said Cardelle "learned quickly why it's called City of the Hills," when he ran the Pit Run. Regg said she is a third-generation employee who considers SUNY Oneonta home and said Cardelle was eager to help make a difference in students' lives. She also said she lost her Christmas cookie championship to First Lady Rachel Frick-Cardelle.

Frick-Cardelle said they consider Oneonta home, as do their three grown daughters Marianela, Catalina and Josephine. One daughter, Catalina was able to fly from California to be at the inauguration, while the other two were watching the event live streamed in Singapore and near Guam, she said.

Cardelle said after his installation, his challenge is to establish programs in order to make the college as relevant in the next 150 years as it was in the past 133 years. He quoted a newspaper article about the college's founding as a Normal School saying how it would impact Oneonta, how important it was to Oneonta and the students attending the college and a note for future leaders to keep that information in mind when setting policies.

Cardelle said "With 9,000 donors I am happy to announce the student emergency fund has over $1 million to assist students who experience unexpected financial difficulties." This will allow students to stay in college, he said.

He talked about how he failed as an educator to some students including a student he assigned to a lower ability internship because he thought he couldn't handle a higher ability one. "Instead I should have been in awe of his resiliency of overcoming a learning disability due to fetal alcohol syndrome."

He pledged to do better for students at SUNY Oneonta.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.