Binghamton University was established in 1946 as
Triple Cities College to serve the needs of local veterans returning from World War II of the Triple Cities area. Thomas J. Watson of IBM was an early supporter of the college and provided some of the initial support and helped to establish it in Endicott, New York; the college was a branch of Syracuse University. Originally, Triple Cities College offered local students the first two years of their education, while the following two were spent at Syracuse. However, starting in the 1948-49 year, students were allowed to earn their degrees entirely in Binghamton. When the college split from Syracuse and became incorporated into the State University of New York (SUNY) in 1950, it was renamed
Harpur College, in honor of Robert Harpur, a Colonial teacher and pioneer who settled in the Binghamton area. It was one of only two public liberal arts schools in New York state in 1950 (the other was Champlain College, Plattsburgh). Of the four University Centers (Stony Brook, Albany, Buffalo and Binghamton), Binghamton was the first to join SUNY.
Official Site:
Binghamton University
In 1955, the college began to plan its current location in Vestal, New York. This move was complete by 1961. The 387-acre (1.57 km2) site was purchased from a local farmer, anticipating future growth for the school. Colonial Hall, the original building of the former campus, stands today as the Village of Endicott Visitor's Center.
Aerial photograph of Binghamton University.
After Harpur was selected as one of the four university centers of
SUNY in 1965, it was renamed
State University of New York at Binghamton. As other schools were added to the University, Harpur College retained its name and its status as the largest of Binghamton's constituent schools—Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, with more than 60 percent of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in its degree programs.
Although the legal and official University name remains State University of New York at Binghamton, since 1992, the University has been referred to as "Binghamton University," or "Binghamton University, State University of New York", with the exception of the most formal and official documents and applications. Note that the University's Administration Procedures discourage the reference to the University as "SUNY-Binghamton," "SUNY-B," "Harpur College," or other names not listed above.
Past and current leaders
The first president of Harpur College, who began as dean of Triple Cities College, was Glenn Bartle. The second president, G. Bruce Dearing, served several years during the Vietnam era, and then left to become vice chancellor for academic affairs at the SUNY Central Administration in Albany. Third in line was C. Peter Magrath, who came from the University of Nebraska, served from 1972–1974, then left in the summer of 1974 to become president at the University of Minnesota.
The fourth president at Binghamton was Clifford D. Clark, who left his position as dean of the Business school at the University of Kansas to serve as vice president for academic affairs at Binghamton in 1973, but quickly was asked to take on the job of acting president in the fall of 1974 when Magrath left for Minnesota. Clark then was selected as president and served from March 1975 through mid-1990. In Clark's presidency, he led the campus as it moved from primarily a four-year liberal arts college to a research university. Clark added the Anderson Center for the Performing Arts and inaugurated the Summer Music Festival, created the Harpur Forum (now called the Binghamton University Forum), established the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, fostered the expansion and development of the Decker School of Nursing.
Lois B. DeFleur became the University's fifth president upon Clark's retirement in 1990. Under her nearly 20-year tenure, the University experienced its most significant growth. She oversaw substantial additions to the student and faculty populations, vastly expanded research activities and funding, formalized Binghamton's fundraising efforts, expanded the physical footprint of the campus by approximately 20 buildings, launched Binghamton's "green" efforts for which they are now nationally recognized, transitioned the school from Division III athletics to Division I and catalyzed the biggest increase in academic ranking to date. DeFleur retired in 2010 and on July 1, C. Peter Magrath returned as president on an interim basis.
On November 22, 2011, the SUNY Board of Trustees appointed Harvey G. Stenger, Jr. as the seventh president of Binghamton University, effective January 1, 2012. Stenger had been interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University at Buffalo since April 2011.
