Dear Members of the SUNY Oswego Community-
As we approach the closing of the fall semester and the end of my first four months as your President, I return to the sentiment expressed in the message I sent you on my first day of August 15, 2023 – I remain humbled to be your President, and I am even more impressed and energized by each of you than I was when I first sought out to serve in this role. Over the past four months, we have taken great steps together to deliver upon Edward Austin Sheldon’s transformational promise “to contribute to the common good,” to advance our institution and position ourselves for even greater success for decades to come.
At the end of September, I delivered SUNY Oswego’s inaugural State of the University Address, where I unveiled Vision 4040: Expanding SUNY Oswego’s Promise, to increase educational attainment, advance upward mobility, and enhance regional economic development. This Vision was built upon the strength, talent, and effort you each have already put forth to make SUNY Oswego the exemplary, world-class institution it is today. Vision 4040 also outlines a pathway for us to work together to further advance our role as the most mission-critical, public, comprehensive university in our region and beyond. Each of us have a role to play in this:
You – our students, in whom I so proudly see myself, are wonderful, diverse, passionate, and full of energy and expectations. I ask you to continue to push us to be our best for you and continue to share with us your experience as a Laker so we can learn and adjust and protect what is good and improve what is not. Thank you for welcoming me into many of your club and organization meetings and events, including athletic events and theater performances, and/or for coming to meet individually with me in my office or during my drop-in meetings across the campus, or stopping to say hello when our paths cross, both in Oswego as well as at our Syracuse campus.
You – our faculty, it has been a privilege to get to know many of you through General Faculty meetings, 1:1 drop-ins, meetings with department chairs for each of our four colleges/schools, individual meetings in my office, and through university events that I have attended, including a visit to the Rice Creek Field Station, our top-notch learning and research facility. I thank you for your scholarship and for your commitment to student success, academic and creative excellence, and for creating a more inclusive and welcoming community where faculty and students take part in thoughtful inquiry and discourse to address common problems and tackle grand challenges. Please continue to remain the engaged scholars and mentors you are.
You – the staff, have been so supportive, hands-on, and exemplary. Thank you for working tirelessly to ensure our daily operations run smoothly and all our university’s most fundamental needs: food, shelter, safety, resource support, and mentorship are being met. You are a vital part of our mission, and I will forever be grateful for your effort.
You – the alumni, the Alumni Association, the College Foundation, and the College Council, thank you for your strong support of the university, and for your friendship, your hospitality, and your kindness. You have welcomed me into your homes, your workplaces, and your virtual meeting rooms. Together, we can plan for and well-resource a thriving SUNY Oswego for many decades to come. Your advocacy, investment, and care propel us forward and help turn our vision into a reality.
You – the friends and partners of SUNY Oswego, thank you, too, for inviting me to meet with you and, in many cases, to join you at meetings and events, or to serve on external boards or committees with you.
Our strategic planning process, guided by Vision 4040, is now underway, and we expect to complete this plan in late spring 2024. Last month, we completed work on the university’s enrollment and financial sustainability plan, also guided by Vision 4040, and informed by SUNY Chancellor King’s four strategic pillars: student success, research and scholarship, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and economic development and upward mobility.
Our work together is just getting started and we have so much to look forward to achieving in 2024. Take time to enjoy the holidays ahead. Be well and know how much I value each of you. Thank you for such a great first semester.
Remain well,
Peter O. Nwosu, Ph.D.
President