City University of New York

[EduCativ]

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students – including a record 274,000 degree-credit students – choose The City University of New York for a multitude of reasons that can be summed up as one: opportunity. Providing quality, accessible education, regardless of background or means, has been CUNY's mission since 1847.
The University's unwavering commitment to that principle is a source of enormous pride. CUNY colleges offer a seemingly infinite array of academic programs taught by award-winning faculty and sports, internships, scholarships, and community service opportunities found on campuses throughout New York City's five boroughs. CUNY's combination of quality academics, remarkable affordability, financial support, and 24 modern campuses' convenience offers a remarkable educational experience.
CUNY has a legislatively mandated mission to be "of vital importance as a vehicle for the upward mobility of the disadvantaged in the City of New York … [to] remain responsive to the needs of its urban setting … [while ensuring] equal access and opportunity" to students, faculty, and staff "from all ethnic and racial groups" and without regard to gender.
The mission of The City University of New York, embodied in state education law, Article 125, Section 6201, as the finding and intent of the New York State Legislature, states in part: The Legislature intends that The City University of New York should be maintained as an independent system of higher education governed by its Board of Trustees responsible for the governance, maintenance and development of both senior and community college units of The City University.
The University must remain responsive to its urban setting's needs and maintain its close articulation between senior and community college units. Where possible, senior and community colleges' governance and operation should be jointly conducted or conducted by similar procedures to maintain the University as an integrated system and facilitate articulation between units.
The Legislature intends that The City University be supported as an independent and integrated system of higher education on the assumption that the University will continue to maintain and expand its commitment to academic excellence and the provision of equal access and opportunity for students, faculty, and staff from all ethnic and racial groups and both sexes. The City University is of vital importance as a vehicle for the upward mobility of the disadvantaged in the City of New York. The pioneering efforts of the SEEK and College Discovery programs must not be diminished due to greater state financial responsibility.
Only the most vital commitment to an urban constituency's unique needs justifies the Legislature's support of an independent and unique structure for the University. Activities at the City University campuses must be undertaken in a spirit that recognizes and responds to the imperative need for affirmative action. The positive desire to have City University personnel reflect the diverse communities that comprise the people of New York.
OAA oversees policies governing the University's 25 institutions, more than 1,400 academic programs, 200 majors leading to associate and baccalaureate degrees, and 800 graduate degree programs. With over a half-million students enrolled in these programs and continuing education classes, learning opportunities are available at every level, from certificate courses to the Ph.D., in a single integrated system. OAA is also responsible for the development and implementation of special University-wide initiatives aimed at raising academic quality, improving student success, and providing New Yorkers with equal access to quality education.
BOASTING WORLD-CLASS ACADEMICS, award-winning faculty, and new and enhanced campuses, today's City University of New York is attracting students who win National Science Foundation fellowships and Rhodes Scholarships, keeping a nearly 170-year-old commitment to educational excellence and opportunity.
Our mission dates to 1847 when founder Townsend Harris, an early champion of public education and a pioneering diplomat who was the first U.S. ambassador to Japan, called upon New York City to create a public academy of higher learning to "educate the whole people."
An inaugural class of 143 academically qualified young men was soon assembled. The fledgling school quickly grew in reputation and enrollment. As a new century approached, plans were approved for an expansive neo-Gothic campus uptown that became the College of New York City.
Twenty years after the first students entered the academy, a secondary school for teachers' education, the Female Normal and High School – later renamed Hunter College in honor of its founder, Thomas Hunter – offered the same higher education opportunities to women.
Fueled by an immigration boom in the early 20th century, City College and Hunter expanded to include evening sessions in Brooklyn and Queens. In 1926, the state Legislature established a Board of Higher Education to oversee the growing municipal college system and expand public access in the city's outer boroughs. Over the next decade, Brooklyn College and Queens College were founded, and Hunter established a Bronx campus, which decades later would become Lehman College.

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