NORWICH, N.Y. — As part of its 50th-anniversary celebration, the SUNY Morrisville Norwich Campus hosted a dinner to honor members of the local community.
During the event, the following five community members received awards for exemplary service:
• Margaret (Peggy) Raynor received the Lifetime Achievement in Leadership Award for 16 years of service as the campus’s former dean. Raynor oversaw the process for achieving branch campus status and was instrumental in planning and securing funding for the campus’s permanent location at Roger W. Follett Hall.
• Bette Osborne, Chenango County commissioner of social services, received the Dr. Fred Weaver Service Award, presented by Bob Johnson ’10. Osborne, who has served in the Department of Social Services for more than 27 years, is an integral part of the Norwich Campus’s human services program, serving as a guest speaker, site supervisor for interns and a panel member for the Human Services Institute’s Leadership Academy.
• Three adjunct faculty members were honored as the longest serving at the Norwich Campus, with a combined service of 69 years:
o Edward Van Beers II, ’94;
o Connie Hadden; and
o Michael Foor-Pessin.
Also attending the dinner were business owners, local foundation boards, and college faculty and staff.
As it continues to mark its milestone, the SUNY Morrisville Norwich Campus also has planned an on-campus alumni reunion in mid-September.
Brief history of the Norwich Campus
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The Norwich campus sprang from humble beginnings, holding classes in Norwich High School until it received branch campus status in the 1990s, then moved to 16 S. Broad Street. In 2005, the campus’s current site at Roger W. Follett Hall, on Conkey Avenue, was opened with the assistance of private donors, local foundations and state grants.
Overall history of the Norwich Campus
SUNY Morrisville began its commitment to Norwich and Chenango County in 1968, when an agreement was reached between the SUNY Morrisville Office of Continuing Education and the Norwich City School District to offer courses at Norwich Senior High School. Two courses, with a total enrollment of 38 students, were offered in the spring 1969 semester.
SUNY Morrisville operated as an extension site in Norwich until 1988, when branch campus status was attained. This provided the opportunity to offer degree programs in their entirety in accounting, business administration, computer information systems, computer systems technology, liberal arts and office technology. In the fall of 1999, first-year courses leading to an associate degree in nursing at the college were added.
Growth in programs and students necessitated the increase of student services, as well as the need for a move to a building site which would house both administrative offices and classrooms. In the summer of 1993, the Norwich Campus moved its operations to a 10,000-square-foot space on Broad Street.
In addition to classes at the Broad Street location, the college also offered courses in strategic locations throughout Chenango County, including businesses, community organizations and high schools, to serve current high school students, employers and residents of Chenango and surrounding counties.
To address the anticipated growth in programs and student enrollment at the Norwich Campus, the Roger W. Follett Hall was constructed and established as the campus’s new home in 2001, boasting nearly four times the square footage of the college's former Broad Street home.
Today, approximately 600 students are enrolled at the Norwich Campus each semester, with 15 degree programs and approximately 90 classes offered during the day, evening and weekends. In the past 30 years, SUNY Morrisville’s Norwich facility has served more than 21,000 full- and part-time students.