The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY ( /ˈsuːniː/), is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States,^[2] with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus 1.1 million adult education students spanning 64 campuses across the state. The SUNY system has 88,000 faculty members and some 7,660 degree and certificate programs overall and a $10.7 billion budget.^[3] SUNY includes many institutions and four University Centers: Albany (1844), Binghamton (1946), Buffalo (1846), and Stony Brook (1957). SUNY's administrative offices are in Albany, the state's capital.

The State University of New York was established in 1948 by Governor Thomas E. Dewey, through legislative implementation of recommendations made by the Temporary Commission on the Need for a State University (1946–1948). The Commission was chaired by Owen D. Young, who was at the time Chairman of the General Electric Company. The system was greatly expanded during the administration of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who took a personal interest in design and construction of new SUNY facilities across the state.

SUNY comprises all institutions of higher education statewide that are state-supported, with the exception of the institutions that are units of the City University of New York (CUNY), which is additionally funded by New York City.

History[link]

The first colleges were established privately, with some arising from local seminaries. But New York state had a long history of supported higher education prior to the creation of the SUNY system. On May 7, 1844, the State legislature voted to establish New York State Normal School in Albany as the first college for teacher education. In 1865 New York created Cornell University as its land grant college, and it began direct financial support of Cornell's statutory colleges in 1894. From 1889 to 1903, Cornell operated the New York State College of Forestry, until the Governor vetoed its annual appropriation. The school was moved to Syracuse University in 1911. It is now the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. In 1908, the State legislature began the NY State College of Agriculture at Alfred University.

In 1946-48 a Temporary Commission on the Need for a State University, chaired by Owen D. Young, Chairman of the General Electric Company, studied New York's existing higher education institutions and recommended consolidating them into a state university system. The State University of New York was established in 1948 by Governor Thomas E. Dewey, through legislative implementation of the commission's recommendations. The system was greatly expanded during the administration of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who took a personal interest in the design and construction of new SUNY facilities across the state.

On October 8, 1953, SUNY took a historic step of banning national fraternities and sororities that discriminated based on race or religion from its 33 campuses.^[4] Various fraternities challenged this rule in court. As a result, national organizations felt pressured to open their membership to students of all races and religions.

Organization[link]

SUNY is governed by a Board of Trustees, which consists of sixteen members, fifteen of whom are appointed by the Governor, with consent of the New York State Senate. The sixteenth member is the President of the SUNY Student Assembly. The Board of Trustees appoints the Chancellor who serves as SUNY Chief Executive Officer. The current Chancellor is Nancy L. Zimpher.

The state of New York assists in financing the SUNY system, which, along with CUNY, provides lower-cost college-level education to residents of the state. SUNY students also come from out-of-state and 171 foreign countries, though tuition is higher for these students. Although tuition is higher for these non-resident students, their tuition is subsidized by New York State taxpayer dollars.

For the 2010-2011 academic year, tuition costs at SUNY schools for an undergrad degree are less than two-thirds the cost of most other state run college institutions in the U.S. Tuition at the State University of New York at Buffalo for an undergraduate degree is $7,772.75 per semester or $15,545.50 per year for non-resident students.^[5] Undergrad tuition for non-resident students at the University of Maryland is $24,830.44 per year.^[6] Non-resident tuition and fees at University of Oregon are $25,830.00 per year.^[7]

There are a large variety of colleges in the SUNY system with some overlap in specialties from site to site. SUNY divides its campuses into four distinct categories: university centers/doctoral-granting institutions, university colleges, technology colleges, and community colleges. SUNY also has a unique relationship with its statutory colleges which embeds state-funded colleges within other institutions such as Cornell University and Alfred University. Students at the statutory colleges have the benefit of state-subsidized tuition while receiving all of the campus life amenities of the host institutions.

SUNY and the City University of New York (CUNY) are entirely different university systems, despite the fact that both are public institutions which receive funding from New York State. Also, SUNY is not to be confused with the University of the State of New York (USNY), which is the governmental umbrella organization for most education-related institutions and many education-related personnel (both public and private) in New York State, and which includes, as a component, the New York State Education Department.

Presidents and chancellors[link]

SUNY System Administration Building "The SUNY Castle" in Albany

Student representation[link]

In the 1970s, students pressed for voting representation on the governing board of SUNY colleges. In 1971, the State Legislature added five student voting members to Cornell's Board of Trustees. However, at that time, all members of a board must be over the age of 21 for a corporation to hold a liquor license, so to allow Cornell to retain its license, the legislature had to go back to amend NYS Alcoholic Beverage Control Law § 126(4) to require that half the board must be 21. In 1975, the legislature added a non-voting student seat to the boards of all SUNY units. Two Attorney General of the State of New York opinion letters^[8] reduced the parliamentary rights of the student members to participate at meetings and indicated that they were not in fact Public Officers, and arguably subject to personal liability from lawsuits. In 1977, another statutory amendment made student members of SUNY councils and boards subject to the NYS Public Officers Law or NYS General Municipal Law and granted student representatives parliamentary powers of moving or seconding motions and of placing items on the agendas of the bodies. Finally, the legislature gave full voting rights to the student members in 1979, resulting in the students of all SUNY units having voting representatives, except for the NYS College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Finally, in 1986, the legislature gave the student representative of that college voting rights as well.^[9]

Campuses[link]

University at Albany

Binghamton University.

Stony Brook University

University centers and doctoral-granting institutions[link]

University centers[link]

Other doctoral-granting institutions[link]

University colleges[link]

Technology colleges[link]

Community colleges[link]

All of these colleges are located in New York State, except that the Jamestown Community College operates its Warren Center in Pennsylvania under a contract with the Warren-Forest Higher Education Council, and the Center is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The Warren Center is 25 miles south of Jamestown, New York on the grounds of the North Warren, Pennsylvania state mental hospital.^[74]

State-wide colleges[link]

• Empire State College

State-wide awards[link]

• SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence

Institute for Community College Development[link]

The Institute for Community College Development (ICCD) operates leadership ability assessment programs and provides leadership skills development. ICCD's programs are open to administrators, faculty and trustees of SUNY's community colleges.^[75] The ICCD also conducts two "Successful Teaching Conferences" each year for developing community college faculty skills.^[76] ICCD is a part of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations.^[75]

Rankings and statistics for the University Centers[link]

The SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence[link]

The SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence is a annual award given out by the SUNY system to distinguished student leaders across the State of New York. Established in 1997, the system considers the Chancellor's Award to be "the highest honor bestowed upon the student body."^[85]

Athletics[link]

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Every school within the SUNY system manages its own athletics program, which greatly varies the level of competition at each institution.

Division I[link]

• The four university centers all compete at the Division I level for all of their sports. All but Binghamton field football teams, with Buffalo in Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) and Albany and Stony Brook in Division I FCS (formerly Division I-AA). The four Cornell statutory colleges compete as a part of the Ivy League, an FCS conference that chooses not to participate in the FCS postseason tournament.
  • A small number of community colleges compete at the NJCAA Div. 1 level.

Division II and III[link]

• Most SUNY colleges, technical schools and community schools compete at the NCAA or NJCAA Div. II or III level.

• Three SUNY campuses (Environmental Science and Forestry, Canton, and Delhi) are members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).

Rivalries[link]

The most prominent SUNY rivalry is between the Albany Great Danes and Binghamton Bearcats. The two both belong to the America East athletic conference. Frequently referred to as the I-88 Rivalry, Binghamton and Albany sit at either end of Interstate 88 (roughly 2.5 hours apart). Both teams are known to post the highest visitor attendance at either school's athletic events.

SUNY Oswego and SUNY Plattsburgh also share a notable rivalry in Division III Hockey, with that game almost always having the SUNYAC regular season title up for grabs.

SUNY Cobleskill and SUNY Delhi rivalry is mainly involving basketball, cross country, and previously track, although Cobleskill track and field competes at the NCAA Division III level starting spring 2009. They are in fairly close proximity to each other. The SUNY Delhi 2003-2004 basketball season was canceled after a basketball game was called with 48 seconds left after several SUNY Delhi basketball players nearly started a brawl in the Ioro Gymnasium at SUNY Cobleskill on Wednesday February 4, 2004.

SUNY Oneonta has developed a rivalry in almost every sport with SUNY Cortland. They both share the red dragon as a team nickname, and their matchups are known as the "Battle of the Red Dragons".

There is an unusual sports rivalry between SUNY-ESF and Finger Lakes Community College, with both campuses sponsoring nationally-ranked teams in timber sports (woodsmen's teams).

See also[link]

	New York portal
	University portal

• List of State University of New York units
• List of colleges and universities in New York
• City University of New York
• Education in New York
• The New York State Board of Regents
• New York State Education Department
• University of the State of New York
• List of largest United States colleges by enrollment
• List of largest universities by enrollment

References[link]

Notes

External links[link]

• Official website
• State University of New York Press

Taio Cruz
Background information
Birth name	Jacob Taio Cruz
Born	(1983-04-23) 23 April 1983 (age 29) London, England, UK
Genres	Pop, dance
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, rapper, entrepreneur
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Rokstarr Entertainment Division, Island, Republic, Mercury (U.S.)
Associated acts	Kesha, Kylie Minogue, Ludacris, David Guetta, Cheryl Cole, McFly, Travie McCoy, Flo Rida
Website	TaioCruzMusic.co.uk

Jacob Taio Cruz (born 23 April 1983) known professionally as Taio Cruz^[1] (Portuguese: [ˈtaj.ju ˈkɾujʃ]) is an English singer-songwriter, record producer, occasional rapper, and entrepreneur.^[2] In 2008, he released his debut album Departure, which Cruz wrote, arranged and produced himself. It achieved initial success in the United Kingdom and earned him a MOBO Award nomination. In June 2010, Cruz released his follow-up album Rokstarr, which includes the number one singles "Break Your Heart" and "Dynamite". Cruz has collaborated with Kesha and Fabolous on the single "Dirty Picture", as well as Kylie Minogue and Travie McCoy on his single "Higher". Additionally, Cruz penned and recorded the song "Telling the World" as the lead single from the soundtrack to the 2011 animated film Rio.

Biography[link]

Early life and career beginnings[link]

Cruz was born in London, to a Nigerian father and a Brazilian mother called Beatriz Vitoria Olivera Bennati^[2], from Rio de Janeiro.^[3] He attended Bilton Grange, a private prep school in Rugby, Warwickshire.^[4]

Cruz began writing songs when he was 12. His songwriting career began at age 19 as part of Tricky Stewart's writing collective, RedZone Entertainment.^[5] Cruz achieved notability in 2005 when he was awarded a BRIT Award for co-writing Will Young's 2004 single, "Your Game".^[6] Cruz is the founder and chief executive of Rokstarr Music London, which in 2006 released his debut single "I Just Wanna Know". The single attracted significant attention from radio, and also from music industry insiders, who were already well aware of the artist's potential; manager Jamie Binns, who began representing Cruz at this time, later told HitQuarters: "He was a guy that everyone had earmarked to do damage in the future."^[7] Although the single received a reasonable amount of radio airplay, it did not perform as well as expected in either territory.^[7] However, rather than lose faith in Cruz, the labels were eager to negotiate an album deal, as by this time they had listened to his other songs and were ever more convinced by his capability.^[7]

Cruz's admirers included Island Records's Darcus Beese and \sex Monte Lipman, who, according to Binns, "both believed 'I Just Wanna Know' fitted the format on both sides of the Atlantic."^[7] In 2006, Cruz signed a split single deal with Universal Music Group companies, Republic Records and the UK branch of Island Records.

[edit] 2006–2008: Departure

Taio Cruz released his second single "Moving On" in September 2007 haö

which made the top 30 in the UK. In March 2008 his next single, "Come On Girl," featuring Luciana, peaked at No. 5 on the UK charts. The related album Departure appeared on 17 March and peaked at No. 17.[8][9] This was followed by the single "I Can Be," which reached No. 18 in May. On 18 August, "She's Like a Star" was released, which was a remix of the previous single and featured American rapper Busta Rhymes and girl-group Sugababes. The remix later appeared on the Sugababes studio album Catfights & Spotlights, which peaked at No. 20. It was later revealed that Cruz narrowly missed out on the chance to record the song "Umbrella" which was eventually recorded by Rihanna and ended up topping charts around the world.[5]

[edit] 2009–2011: Rokstarr, international breakthrough and The Rokstarr Collection

Cruz was featured on Tinchy Stryder's breakout single "Take Me Back" which peaked at No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart. According to Cruz's official Myspace blog, as of 1 January 2009, Rokstarr Music London officially changed its name to Rokstarr Entertainment Division and abbreviated to R.E.D Inc.^{[citation needed]} During 2009, he worked on his follow-up album entitled Rokstarr.^[10] It was released on 12 October through R.E.D Inc/Island Records and is entirely written and produced by Cruz, with co-writes and co-productions predominantly with UK producer Fraser T. Smith. The album's lead single "Break Your Heart" was released on 14 September and reached number one in the UK, where it stayed for three weeks.^[8] The success of the song attracted the attention of David Massey and Daniel Werner from Mercury/Island Def Jam who were excited and aggressive about releasing "Break Your Heart" in the US on their label.^[7] According to Cruz's manager Jamie Binns, the relationship with Monte Lipman at Universal Republic had "gone a bit quiet" by this point and as Taio wanted to be with the label that was most enthusiastic about his music, a move from Universal Republic to Mercury/Island Def Jam was engineered.^[7]

The single reached the top spot in the U.S. for one week on the Billboard charts.^[11] In an interview with The Guardian, it was stated that "Cruz was clever to have hooked up with a US rapper Ludacris on his breakthrough hit".^[12] In order to introduce Cruz into the US market, David Massey had suggested that the single feature an American rapper with chart credibility.^[7] The album spawned two other UK singles, "No Other One", and the top-ten hit "Dirty Picture" featuring American electropop singer Kesha. The album's fourth single (second in the US) titled "Dynamite" debuted at 26 ^[11] and despite peaking at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, "Dynamite" peaked at number 1 on U.S. top 40 earning Cruz his second US number 1 record.

Rokstarr was followed by the compilation album The Rokstarr Collection which includes songs both from Departure and the international version of Rokstarr.^[13] Cruz later released four versions of his single "Higher" - one featuring Kylie Minogue, one featuring Travie McCoy, one featuring both, and one with just himself. Cruz has also been featured on the soundtrack of American reality TV series Jersey Shore.^[14]

[edit] 2011-present: TY.O

In March 2011, Cruz premiered an all-new song, entitled "Telling the World", which was written by Cruz and Alan Kasiyre for the Rio soundtrack. The track was not featured on any of Cruz's prior studio albums.^[15] On 23 May 2011, Cruz received his first billboard award in the United States, and announced live on stage that his third album would be released in the fourth quarter of 2011, and would be entitled Black and Leather.^[16] In June 2011, Cruz released a collaborative single, "Little Bad Girl", with French DJ David Guetta and American rapper Ludacris. The song was a worldwide smash, topping singles charts across the world.^[17] During July and August 2011, a series of unreleased songs, recorded during the album sessions, were leaked to YouTube. in an interview, Cruz promised a "fun" and "energetic" album, and claimed that due to the leak, none of the tracks posted on YouTube would be included on the album. Cruz claimed, "It's a shame really, because one person has spoilt it for all the fans. They could have had an album packed with 17, 18 tracks, and now, they're only getting eleven because of one stupid act of tomfooolery."^[18] During the interview, Cruz also claimed that the title of the album had been changed, and the album was now entitled Troublemaker, after one of the tracks included on the album. On 4 October 2011, the single "Hangover" was officially released in Germany and the United States, and it was rumoured that a solo version of the song, that features on the physical release, would be included as a bonus track on the album. However, these rumours were later quashed.^[19]. Around October 2011, the album was made available for pre-order, and as such, the album's final title, TY.O, was revealed. Cruz, via his Twitter account, made the decision to name the album TY.O after he expressed his annoyance at people constantly pronouncing his name wrong. The album was first released in Germany on December 2, 2011. It will be released in the United Kingdom on December 31, 2012. It was going to release in the US on May 17, 2012, but, now it has yet to be released.

Writing and production[link]

Cruz has written songs on albums by Cheryl Cole, JLS, The Saturdays, The Wanted and David Guetta. Cruz wrote and featured on Tinchy Stryder's hit single "Take Me Back". Pop rock band McFly recorded "Shine a Light" which not only features, but was also penned and produced by Cruz for their fifth studio album.^[20] 2011 will see him writing for Justin Bieber's next album.^[21] Jennifer Lopez's 2011 single "I'm Into You", featuring Lil Wayne, is also penned by Cruz. He also contributed significantly to David Guetta's fifth album Nothing but the Beat, penning two of his hit singles "Without You", featuring Usher and "Little Bad Girl", featuring Cruz himself and Ludacris.

Other ventures[link]

Rokstarr brand[link]

On 1 September 2009, Cruz launched the brand Rokstarr; the fashion and accessories brand has a focus on sunglasses. Musicians & Artists such as Kanye West, Shontelle, Keri Hilson, Steves Peeps and Kelly Rowland have been seen wearing them. Speaking in October to R&B writer Pete Lewis, Cruz stated: "There's a load of US celebrities that are all rocking the sunglasses already – Kid Cudi, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West... Then in the UK we have The Saturdays, JLS, Daniel Merriweather – who've all been twittering and writing on their blogs how much they love them. So yeah, it's definitely my new album 'Rokstarr' and the fashion brand that are my two main focuses at the moment."^[22]

Meanwhile, speaking again to Lewis in April 2010, Cruz revealed: "We're currently looking to expand the brand and possibly go into things like watches. I've also got a new subsidiary of Rokstarr called 'Rok By Rokstarr'. And we've just started doing things like jeans and T-shirts, and stuff that more of the fans of Taio Cruz can buy. Because with Rokstarr in itself being so expensive, a lot of the kids out there who want to buy Rokstarr things can't. So we're bringing in stuff that's a little bit more High Street and more affordable."^[23]

Discography[link]

• Departure (2008)
• Rokstarr (2009)
• TY.O (2011)

Awards and nominations[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Taio Cruz at the Internet Movie Database
• [1]
• Taio Cruz on justRHYMES.com
• Taio Cruz 'Blues & Soul' interview by Pete Lewis February 2008
• Taio Cruz at Billboard.com