The State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo State College or, colloquially, "Geneseo") is a public liberal arts college in Geneseo, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. The college was founded in 1867 as the Wadsworth Normal and Training School before it became part of the new State University of New York system as a state liberal arts college in 1948.
History
The initial predecessor to SUNY Geneseo opened in 1867 as the Wadsworth Normal and Training School through an act of the New York State Legislature. However, the legislature later changed the new college's name to the Geneseo Normal and Training School before it officially opened on September 13, 1871. The name was shortened in 1905, however, to just the Geneseo Normal School.
The school, which initially only offered two-year courses of study, grew to offer three-year programs in 1922 and four-year programs in 1938. Bachelor's degrees, however, were not awarded for the first time until 1942, when the school additionally became the Geneseo State Teachers College. Six years later, in 1948, the college became an initial member of the State University of New York system and adopted the new name State University of New York Teachers College at Geneseo. At this time, the school also gained the right to grant master's degrees in education and, by 1951, was awarding its initial graduate degrees.
In 1962, the school adopted its current name, State University of New York College at Geneseo. Just two years later, in 1964, the school began to offer four-year bachelors degrees in subjects other than education.
Academics
Geneseo is a public liberal arts college with 48 undergraduate majors, 5 master's programs, and 25 interdisciplinary minors. The most popular majors, in descending order, are education, business, the social sciences, biology, and psychology.
The student population is 5,588, with a student/faculty ratio of 19:1 and an average class size of 25. Nearly 90% of Geneseo's full-time faculty holds a Ph.D. or other terminal degree.
Geneseo is part of the New York Space Grant Consortium, and is provided grants by NASA to support outer-space related research on-campus.
Study abroad
Nearly 40% of Geneseo's students participate in study abroad programs through the college or the SUNY system. One of Geneseo's most popular study abroad programs is its offering of the Humanities I course in Rome, Athens or New York City, and the Humanities II course in Paris, Prague, El Sauce, or at Oxford University. The most well-known program is the Mediterranean Roots Humanities I program where students travel to Greece, Italy and Spain for up to six weeks.
Administration
Following the retirement of long-time President Christopher Dahl, Denise Battles became the college's president in July 2015.
Rankings and admissions
Geneseo is among 44 "Best Buy Schools" in the 2021 edition of "The Fiske Guide to Colleges" published by former New York Times Education Editor Edward B. Fiske. The publication named 44 institutions – 20 public and 24 private – as "Best Buys," categorized as inexpensive or moderately priced with a four- or five-star academic rating. Geneseo has been named to the list for several years. In September 2016, Princeton Review named Geneseo one of the nation's best institutions for undergraduate education in its annual college guide, "The Best 381 Colleges."
Admissions
Geneseo's acceptance rate is 65% as of 2021.
Phi Beta Kappa
Geneseo has a chapter of the oldest academic honor society in the United States, Phi Beta Kappa. SUNY's four university centers already had chapters; Geneseo's establishment of a chapter is significant because it was the first (and is currently the only) of New York's thirteen state comprehensive colleges to receive the honor.
The inaugural ΦΒΚ class was inducted to Geneseo's Alpha-Gamma of New York chapter in April 2004.
Campus
SUNY Geneseo is on the Genesee Valley's eastern side. Of Geneseo's approximately 5,000 full-time residents, some 70% work at or are in some way affiliated with the college, making Geneseo a "college town."