College Announces New Mission

SUNY Oneonta has revised its institutional mission statement to guide development of a vision and strategic goals for the next several years. The new mission, which SUNY Oneonta President Barbara Jean Morris announced in a campus-wide video today, is:

We nurture a community where students grow intellectually, thrive socially and live purposefully.

In an email to the campus community, President Morris explained that the idea to update the mission arose through a series of meetings with stakeholders from the college and the community.

“What began as a listening tour late in the summer of 2018 gave way to 'hackathons' in spring 2019 that informed a new mission statement for SUNY Oneonta,” she wrote. “Each step of the way, I have heard and seen great enthusiasm from every corner of campus. At all of the more than 60 stops on my tour, I learned more and more about the strengths of the college and our drive to be an exemplary residential campus.”

Hackathons originated in the computer industry as events where programmers and others involved in software or hardware development come together to create a fully functional product to meet a specific challenge in a short period of time. Hundreds of members of the campus and greater Oneonta communities participated in the college’s hackathons, the president’s listening tour and a vote, held in late April, to select SUNY Oneonta’s new mission.

“I think the listening tour and the 10 hackathons it inspired have, in a sense, allowed us to rediscover SUNY Oneonta,” said Morris. “To reflect the breadth of our efforts and impacts, I am thrilled to announce SUNY Oneonta’s new mission statement.”

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