The State University of New York at Potsdam (SUNY Potsdam or, colloquially, Potsdam) is a

public college A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. It is the northernmost member of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

(SUNY) system. Founded in 1816, it is among the oldest colleges in the United States. It is composed of the College of Arts & Sciences, the School of Education and Professional Studies, and the

Crane School of Music The Crane School of Music is located in Potsdam, New York, and is one of three schools which make up the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam. Crane consists of approximately 630 undergraduate and 30 graduate students and a faculty o ...

History

Potsdam was founded by Benjamin Raymond in 1816 as the St. Lawrence Academy. In 1834, the academy was chosen by the New York State Legislature to exclusively offer a

teacher education Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they require to perform their ...

program for its senatorial district. With funds from the state, and from support by preceptor Reverend Asa Brainerd, the first diploma in teaching was given in 1836, thus beginning the academy's and eventually the college's longstanding tradition of excellence in the field of teacher education. In 1866, the State Legislature ended its funding of teacher education departments in private academies, and began establishing several

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

s throughout the state. The Village of Potsdam was thus named as one of four locations for new normal schools, and in 1867, the St. Lawrence Academy became the Potsdam Normal School. By 1886, the Potsdam Normal School had become the first institution in the United States to offer a normal training course for public school music teachers in the United States. Founded by

Julia E. Crane Julia Ettie Crane (May 19, 1855 – June 11, 1923), also known as Julia Etta Crane, was an American music educator, and the first person to set up a school, the Crane School of Music The Crane School of Music is located in Potsdam, New York, a ...

, the Crane Normal Institute of Music continues today as the world-renowned

as a leader in the field of

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

. The

was founded in 1948, and Potsdam became one of its founding members, and was thus renamed New York State Teachers College at Potsdam. In 1964, the college's mission changed to providing multiple programs, and the university adopted its current name. During the 1980s, despite the college's traditional strengths in music and education, the college gained recognition for its quickly blossoming mathematics program under the guidance of

Clarence F. Stephens Clarence Francis Stephens (July 24, 1917 – March 5, 2018) was the ninth African American to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. He is credited with inspiring students and faculty at SUNY Potsdam to form the most successful United States undergradua ...

. Known as the Potsdam Miracle, Stephens transformed a practically non-existent department to having the third largest number of mathematics majors of any institution in the United States during his tenure. The college had a total enrollment of approximately 4,500 students and approximately 930 freshmen entered Potsdam in 2010. That was the biggest first-year class since 1982, and an 11.4 percent increase over the previous year's incoming freshman class, which had 835 students.

Campus

The campus is in the small village of Potsdam, near the

Canada–United States border The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Can ...

. It is situated in the

St. Lawrence Valley The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting t ...

, between the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

and the foothills of the

Adirondack Mountains The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular ...

, approximately 20 miles from the border of The Adirondack Park. The Raquette River flows through the middle of the town of Potsdam. The school sits on and consists of 44 buildings. Barrington Drive runs through the center of the campus, with all academic buildings on the northwest side of the street, and all campus life and residence buildings on the southeast side. The

campus is in the northern part of the campus, east of the academic quad. The college has two libraries, the Frederick W. Crumb Memorial Library in the center of the academic quad, and the Crane Music Library in Schuette Hall at the Crane complex. The college also has six performance facilities: Hosmer Hall, Snell Theatre, and Wakefield Recital Hall (three venues in The Crane School of Music), the Proscenium Theater, the Black Box Theater, and the Dance Theater (three venues in the college's new Performing Arts Center). The college also houses an art gallery and the Maxcy Hall Athletic Facility. SUNY Potsdam is home to the Charles T. Weaver Anthropology Museum, a teaching museum that allows students to curate exhibitions and have hands on experience with the museum's collection. Also on campus is the Art Museum at SUNY Potsdam, also known as the Gibson Gallery, which stresses its mission to connect students, faculty and all those on campus with visual art. The affiliated non-profit organization that provides dining services and runs the union market and college bookstore on campus is known as PACES or Potsdam Auxiliary College Education Services. This organization is the largest financial supporter of the college, annually donating significant portions of their proceeds back to the college in support of scholarships and other initiatives on campus.

Athletics

In 1981 and 1986, under Hall of Fame Coach Jerry Welsh, the Potsdam Bears basketball team won the NCAA Division III National Championship. In 1979, 1982, and 1985, the Potsdam Bears were national runners-up for this title. The SUNY-Potsdam men's ice hockey team has competed in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

since 1976. Most recently, they played in the

State University of New York Athletic Conference The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) is an NCAA Division III athletics conference consisting of schools in the State University of New York system. It was chartered in 1958 as the New York State Intercollegiate Athletic Co ...

, which is a

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

athletics conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. Confe ...

. The 1995-96 Men's Ice Hockey team won the hockey program's only SUNYAC title in school history, under Hall of Fame Coach Ed Seney. SUNY Potsdam athletics were recently placed on NCAA probation due to an inadvertent error in the awarding of international student grants. The teams affected by the NCAA probation are men's and women's hockey, women's volleyball, men's and women's lacrosse, and women's soccer.

ROTC

Many SUNY Potsdam students participate in the

Army ROTC The Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AROTC) is the United States Army component of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. It is the largest Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program which is a group of college and university-based offic ...

and

Air Force ROTC The Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) is one of the three primary commissioning sources for officers in the United States Air Force and United States Space Force, the other two being the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) ...

programs. Students can apply for ROTC scholarships to the university, and may commission as officers in the United States military upon graduation.

Army ROTC

SUNY Potsdam is a partner school of the Golden Knight Battalion, one of 272 Army ROTC Battalions in the United States. SUNY Potsdam students are the second largest group represented in the battalion, which is composed of approximately 100 ROTC Cadets. The headquarters for the Golden Knight Battalion is at 49 Elm St. in downtown Potsdam, where it has been for decades.

A Cappella

SUNY Potsdam has four

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

groups on campus – The Potsdam Pointercounts (1993–Present), The A Sharp Arrangement (1994–Present), The Potsdam Pitches (2007–Present) and Stay Tuned (2012–Present). All four groups have competed in the ICCA (

International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), originally the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella ("NCCA", a play on NCAA), is an international competition that attracts hundreds of college ''a cappella'' groups each ye ...

) run by

Varsity Vocals Varsity may refer to: *University, an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in various academic disciplines Places *Varsity, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada * Varsity Lakes ...

. In 2018, The Potsdam Pitches made their way to the ICCA finals and performed at the Beacon Theater in New York City. This was the first time that a SUNY Potsdam group had made in to finals.

Notable faculty emeriti and alumni

Ernest Blood Ernest Artel Blood (October 4, 1872, Manchester, New Hampshire – February 5, 1955) was a high school and college men's basketball coach. He was best known for his "Wonder Teams" at New Jersey's Passaic High School, which lost only one game in the ...

, Basketball coach, enshrined in the

Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

Stephanie Blythe Stephanie Blythe (born 1970) is an American mezzo-soprano who has had an active international career in operas and concerts since the early 1990s. She is particularly associated with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, with whom she has perfo ...

, Opera singer, mezzo-soprano *

T. Coraghessan Boyle Thomas Coraghessan Boyle, also known as T. C. Boyle and T. Coraghessan Boyle (born December 2, 1948), is an American novelist and short story writer. Since the mid-1970s, he has published sixteen novels and more than 100 short stories. He won the ...

, Author *

Marc Butler Marc W. Butler (born January 21, 1952) is a former Republican member of the New York State Assembly for the 118th Assembly District, which includes Herkimer County, Fulton County and the northeastern portion of Otsego County. Butler received a ...

, Politician and member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

Michael J. Colburn Michael J. Colburn (born 1964,Virginia) is the Director of Bands at Butler University and was the 27th Director of the United States Marine Band and a colonel in the Marine Corps. Colburn joined "The President's Own" Marine Band in 1987 as a eupho ...

, 27th Director of the

United States Marine Band The United States Marine Band is the premier band of the United States Marine Corps. Established by act of Congress on July 11, 1798, it is the oldest of the United States military bands and the oldest professional musical organization in the ...

Mike Deane Mike Deane (born September 27, 1951) is an American college basketball coach who most recently was a men's assistant coach at James Madison University. He retired at the end of the 2017 basketball season. He was previously head basketball coach ...

, Former Division 1 head basketball coach *

Daniel Decker Daniel Decker is a Puerto Rican composer, singer and recording artist, who has produced work blending musical influences (classical, jazz, pop and world music) from many cultures. Decker was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. He was raised in So ...

, Composer and recording artist *

Renée Fleming Renée Lynn Fleming (born February 14, 1959) is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for 1 ...

, Opera singer, soprano *

Stacey Fox Stacey Fox (born June 21, 1965 in Ithaca, New York) is an American transdisciplinary artist, animator, master percussionist, composer and filmmaker. Education Fox graduated in 1983 from Saratoga Springs High School, Saratoga Springs, NY. She went ...

, Percussionist, composer, filmmaker and animator *

Arthur Frackenpohl Arthur Roland Frackenpohl (23 April 1924 – 8 June 2019) was an American composer and Professor Emeritus at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam. Frackenpohl was born in New Jersey. He held degrees from the Ea ...

(Professor Emeritus), Composer and Author *

David J. Hanson David Justin Hanson (born 1941) is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the State University of New York at Potsdam, State University of New York in Potsdam (village), New York, Potsdam, New York. He has researched the subject of alcohol (drug), al ...

(Professor Emeritus), alcohol researcher *

Maurice Kenny Maurice Frank Kenny (August 16, 1929 – April 16, 2016) was an American poet who identified as Mohawk descent. Life Maurice Frank Kenny was born on August 16, 1929, in Watertown, New York. He identified his father as being of Mohawk and Iris ...

(Emeritus Writer-in-Residence), poet, editor/publisher, and essayist *

Stanley Kunitz Stanley Jasspon Kunitz (; July 29, 1905May 14, 2006) was an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000. Biography Kunitz was born in Worcester, Massac ...

, former U.S.

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

* Chris Lee, Professional Hockey Player, KHL All-Star, 2018 Canadian Olympian *

Brock McElheran Brock McElheran (6 January 1918 – 23 September 2008) was a conductor and professor at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and a published author. Early life and education McElheran was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of Robert and Ire ...

(Professor Emeritus), conductor and author *

C. J. Rapp C.J. Rapp is an American beverage inventor best known for inventing and marketing high-caffeine Jolt Cola.* In 1985, C. J. Rapp developed Jolt Cola, which contains 72 milligrams of caffeine, which is the maximum amount permitted by the US Food and ...

, Entrepreneur and Beverage Executive (creator of

Jolt Cola Jolt Cola is a carbonated soft drink produced by The Jolt Company, Inc. (later known as Wet Planet Beverages). The cola drink was created in 1985 by C. J. Rapp as a highly caffeinated beverage. It was targeted towards students and young profe ...

) *

William Buell Richards Sir William Buell Richards (May 2, 1815 – January 26, 1889) was the first Chief Justice of Canada. Richards was born in Brockville, Upper Canada, to Stephen Richards and Phoebe Buell. He earned law degree at the St. Lawrence Academy in Po ...

, First

Chief Justice of Canada The chief justice of Canada (french: juge en chef du Canada) is the presiding judge of the nine-member Supreme Court of Canada, the highest judicial body in Canada. As such, the chief justice is the highest-ranking judge of the Canadian court sy ...

Stephen Savoia Stephan Savoia is an American photographer who works for the Associated Press, where he has been a member of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Potsdam. Events he has covered for the Associate ...

, Two-time

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning photographer *

Daniel Schaefer Daniel "Dan" Schaefer (January 25, 1936 – April 16, 2006) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Colorado's 6th congressional district from 1983 to 1999. Early life and education Born in Guttenberg, Iowa, he att ...

, politician, former U.S. Representative from Colorado *

(Professor Emeritus), mathematics educator *

Joy Tanner Joy Tanner (born March 7, 1966) is an American-born Canadian actress, who is known for roles such as George Fayne in the 1995 ''Nancy Drew'' TV series, Jill Stone in ''Cold Squad'', and Nora McDonald Venturi in four seasons of the sitcom ''Life ...

, actress *

David Valesky David J. Valesky (b. circa 1966) is an American politician who is a former member of the New York State Senate. A Democrat, Valesky represented the 53rd Senate District and the 49th Senate District in upstate New York. Career Valesky was fi ...

, Politician and member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

Lisa Vroman Lisa Vroman (born 1956) is an American lyric soprano and stage actress. Vroman's mother and stepfather teach music, and her father was a singer. She graduated from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam in 1979. She earned a master of fine ...

, Singer and stage actress, soprano *

Tim Welsh Tim Welsh (born October 4, 1960) is an American college basketball Coach (sport), coach and the former head basketball coach at Providence College. Previously, he served as the head coach at Iona College (New York), Iona College. He also served ...

, Former Head Basketball Coach at

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, local diocese, it offers 47 undergradua ...

John Zakour John Zakour (born 1957) is an American science-fiction and humor writer. Biography Zakour was born in upstate New York, in 1957. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Potsdam where he received a BA in computer science. Befo ...

, writer / cartoonist

References

External links

Official website

Official athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:State University Of New York At Potsdam Mathematics education in the United States Potsdam, State University of New York Educational institutions established in 1816 Universities and colleges in St. Lawrence County, New York 1816 establishments in New York (state) Public universities and colleges in New York (state)