SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley to Retire at the end of 2021
In a letter to the campus community, Deborah F. Stanley, J.D., recently announced that she will retire as president of SUNY Oswego effective December 31, 2021. The 10th president of the State University of New York at Oswego, Stanley has served in that role for over twenty-five years. Prior to her appointment as president, she taught and earned tenure in the School of Business and served in administration as the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Provost and Interim President.
During her tenure, she established the Presidential Scholarship Program for outstanding academic achievers that awards over $6 million each year, the Possibility Scholarship Program for disadvantaged students in the sciences, and the pioneering Oswego Guarantee that promises necessary classes will be available for students to complete a degree within four consecutive years and, during those years, there will be no increase in the cost for room and meal plans. She enhanced the Oswego Guarantee with the Graduation ROI in 2013 – a $300 Return on Investment (ROI) awarded to all first-time students who complete their baccalaureate degree in four years or less. President Stanley is currently completing the Path Forward campaign to double the amount of need based privately funded scholarships.
Stanley initiated successful national accreditation for the School of Education, national and international accreditation for the School of Business, and global accreditation by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET for Oswego’s electrical and computer engineering and software engineering programs. She led the creation of the School of Communication, Media, and the Arts, and established the college’s Syracuse campus, located in the Clinton Square area of downtown Syracuse. Under her leadership, new programs such as electrical and computer engineering, human-computer interaction, human development, biomedical and health informatics, cinema and screen studies and the online MBA programs, including the design of an innovative MBA model in partnership with SRC, Inc., were established. Additionally, Stanley has overseen substantial growth of full-time faculty at SUNY Oswego over the past decade.
Her ambitious campus-wide renewal plan, now in its third decade, encompasses just under $1 billion in renovations and construction, including $118 million for the environmentally designated LEED Gold Shineman Center for Science, Engineering and Innovation; the revitalization and modernization of the college’s arts building, Tyler Hall; The Village – a new townhouse residential complex on campus; and the renovated Wilber Hall, marking the centralization of all School of Education departments under one, contiguous roof. She spearheaded a massive upgrade of campus technology, internet and laboratory equipment and guided the college to its most culturally diverse student body in SUNY Oswego’s history.
Aside from her leadership on campus, President Stanley serves as chair of the American Academic Leadership Institute, co-chair of Academic Search, Inc., state-wide co-chair of the State University of New York’s Student Mental Health Task Force, and is a former chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities board of directors. She served on the American Council on Education’s Board of Directors, and is a charter signatory of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. President Stanley served a three-year term as board chair of CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity, a major association in regional economic development, and is co-chair of the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council, one of ten councils across the state appointed by the Governor.
Deborah F. Stanley will retire from SUNY Oswego after 44 years of service to the campus community.
