SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. was welcomed to campus on April 23. His trip included a tour of the School of Nursing expansion project in Hartwell Hall, a presentation from Brockport Brand Builders and a meeting with the students involved in the Brockport Student Government (BSG) canal clean up.
King met with Dean of the School of Nursing Kathleen Peterson to explore the construction in Hartwell Hall. The $15 million renovation will accommodate new offices, laboratories and simulation rooms for the School of Nursing. Construction is expected to conclude in the fall of 2027.
“We’ve already got the four offices filled with people we need to hire, because obviously we can’t run another 6000 square feet without more people.” Peterson said.
The updates to the program come as a response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s goal of increasing New York’s healthcare workforce by 20 percent.
“This expansion of SUNY Brockport’s School of Nursing will make it possible for more New Yorkers to access a world-class nursing education, so they can help grow New York State’s health care workforce.” King said. “SUNY remains dedicated to continuing to invest in nursing education at our colleges, and to achieving Governor Hochul’s goal of increasing the number of high-skilled health care workers in the state.”
For faculty like Peterson, the introduction of more simulation rooms is an exciting update.
“What we’ve been able to do here is increase the amount of simulation rooms. When a student is in a simulation room, they are the nurse – there’s no faculty. It makes them career ready.” Peterson said.
Peterson’s advocacy has also played a role in the updates.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without Kathy. Kathy has been the driving force and the vision to see what we can do.” President Heidi Macphearson said.
After the Hartwell tour, King met with the Brockport Brand Builders, the university’s student-led marketing agency. Advised by marketing professor Savisesh Malampallayil, Brockport Brand Builders create marketing campaigns for both on-campus departments and local businesses.
“It was really interesting to hear how the marketing students are getting hands-on experience working with small businesses in the community. That’s fantastic,” King said. “It was great to hear firsthand, not only from the students, but also from the small businesses that are benefiting from their support.”
Experiential learning experiences, like Brockport Brand Builders, is something King said he would like for students across the SUNY system.
“We want to make sure that every SUNY student is prepared for success after they graduate, and getting experiential learning opportunities is critical to that preparation,” King said. “The marketing students talked about how they now have a larger portfolio that they can share when they’re doing job interviews, how they’ve gotten internships and even job offers because of the work that they’ve been doing, supporting local, small businesses.”
King highlighted the importance of undergraduate internships, a critical space for students to gain hands-on career experience.
“I really believe that we should have an internship for every SUNY undergraduate. We’ve been able to get the governor and legislature to provide funding to help us get towards that goal. We still have a long way to go,” King said. “We’re about 62-63 percent of our students now who have an internship experience and we just want to keep growing that.”
King’s visit concluded with a visit to the Brockport Pedestrian Bridge, which connects campus to the Erie Canal. King and Macpherson met with BSG representatives and Associate Director for Student Activities Programming to discuss their recent Earth Day Cleanup, where over 20 students helped clean up around the canal.
“It was so beautiful,” Collier said. “It was really a wonderful experience, wonderful weather, just a great way to give back in a different way.”
After talking to King about the cleanup, the students gave improvements they would make to campus with King and Macpherson, which included expanding homecoming, increasing interfaith programming andupdating classrooms.
King also asked for the BSG representatives’ feedback about the possibility of the SUNY Student Assembly raising the student activity fee. While increasing the fee would allow for more programming, King recognized the importance of keeping a SUNY education accessible for students.
“Affordable excellence: we have a place for every New Yorker at SUNY,” King said. “Whatever you’re interested in, you can find it at SUNY.”
King emphasized that SUNY’s 64 campuses offer a variety of learning opportunities, from large research universities like University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University, to schools with more specialized programs, like SUNY Maritime or Fashion Institute of Technology.
“We literally have everything and we can do that, all of that very affordably, so we make it accessible to all New Yorkers,” King said.
Making education something that is available for students is a priority for King. King has had a long career in education before becoming Chancellor; he worked as the 10th US Secretary of Education as part of former President Barack Obama’s cabinet, and before that served as New York State Education Department Commissioner.
“I became an educator because school played such a huge role in my life and really saved my life. Both my parents passed away when I was a kid, and it was teachers who gave me a sense of hope and purpose.”
As SUNY Chancellor, King has the chance to pay it forward and connect others to education.
“I love that at SUNY, when you can make opportunity possible for 1000s upon 1000s of students, it’s very satisfying and fulfilling.”
