SUNY Potsdam

Overview

SUNY Potsdam is a public college in Potsdam, in New York’s St. Lawrence County, and part of the State University of New York system (North Country Public Radio). Its institutional lineage begins in 1816 as the St. Lawrence Academy, giving it one of the longest continuous educational histories in the region (National Park Service). The college is a major economic anchor of St. Lawrence County, generating an estimated $350 million in economic activity (North Country Public Radio).

In September 2023, the college became a nationally watched example of small-college retrenchment when President Suzanne Smith announced a plan to eliminate up to 14 degree programs and cut faculty and staff positions to close a $9 million annual structural deficit (North Country Public Radio).

The St. Lawrence Academy, 1816

The development of local education in Potsdam was spearheaded by Judge Benjamin Raymond, a business and community leader who had built one of the first houses in the village (National Park Service). Raymond had been one of three men appointed commissioner of common schools in 1813; three years later he oversaw the creation of the St. Lawrence Academy, which was incorporated on September 17, 1816 (National Park Service). Raymond became the founding chairman of the school’s board of trustees, and the first classes were held in a small frame church erected on his land a few years earlier (National Park Service).

Demand was immediate: classes began just two weeks after the board’s first meeting, with 42 students in attendance (National Park Service). For its first years the school was funded solely by tuition — about $7 a quarter, with out-of-town students paying another $2.50 a week to board with local families (National Park Service). Despite opening in a frontier location during an economic depression, the academy grew remarkably: by 1825 it had more than 240 students (National Park Service).

That growth forced a move. In 1825 the institution relocated to a new three-story stone building on Elm Street, on property that would become part of the Potsdam State Normal School Campus (National Park Service). The building housed 247 students between the ages of 10 and 20, including local residents as well as natives of nearby counties and Canada (National Park Service).

Teacher training and the normal school

In 1828 the Rev. Asa Brainerd took the position of preceptor, and soon after his arrival he established one of the first specialized teacher training programs in New York State (National Park Service). A decade later a second building was constructed on the academy grounds specifically for the Teacher Training Program, and the academy began receiving state aid earmarked to support it (National Park Service).

The academy’s program helped shape the movement that produced New York’s state normal schools. In 1866 the state legislature authorized a commission to establish four new state normal schools for the education of teachers for the common schools (National Park Service). Civic leaders in Potsdam, drawing on the academy’s record, campaigned to convert the academy into one of them: the trustees agreed to turn over the grounds, buildings, apparatus, and libraries of the older school, and boosters led by General Edwin Atkins Merritt secured pledges of some $72,000 in cash plus the academy’s land and equipment (National Park Service).

The effort succeeded. In 1867 Potsdam was chosen as the site of one of the four new state normal schools (National Park Service). The new building, constructed of Potsdam sandstone, was completed in 1868 and placed in service as the Potsdam Normal School — the sixth state normal school established in New York (National Park Service).

Malcolm MacVicar served as the Potsdam Normal School’s principal for its first 20 years (National Park Service). He set up a “practice school” — a fully accredited common school that held classes inside the normal school building, staffed by qualified teachers who also instructed the student teachers — and contemporaries noted that he “made the practice school the heart of his program” (National Park Service). His successor, Dr. Thomas B. Stowell, headed the school from 1889 to 1909, strengthening the science department, expanding drawing, working cooperatively with the Clarkson School of Technology on the adjacent property, and adding the Stowell Annex gymnasium and indoor track (National Park Service). The Potsdam State Normal School Campus is documented in a National Park Service National Register of Historic Places nomination (National Park Service).

The 2023 downsizing plan

On September 19, 2023, President Suzanne Smith announced that SUNY Potsdam would phase out up to 14 degree programs and cut faculty and staff positions to address a $9 million annual structural deficit (North Country Public Radio). Enrollment had declined 43% since 2010 while staffing levels stayed the same (North Country Public Radio). “There will be no bailouts,” Smith said, describing a goal of a steady campus of about 2,500 students (North Country Public Radio).

The programs identified for elimination were art history (BA), arts management (BA), biochemistry (MS), chemistry (BA/BS), dance (BA), French (BA), music performance (MM), philosophy (BA), physics (BA), public health (BS/MS), Spanish (BA), and theater (BA) (North Country Public Radio). The undergraduate music performance major was kept (North Country Public Radio). The plan also put buildings under review: Dunn Hall and the Knowles East, West, and South dormitories could close (North Country Public Radio).

Students already enrolled as of September 19, 2023, would be able to complete their degrees, with programs phased out over three to four academic years (Inside Higher Ed). The college planned a voluntary separation program for faculty and staff, a campus footprint review, and final approval by the SUNY system provost’s office (Inside Higher Ed). Enrollment had fallen from almost 4,000 to about 2,500 with unchanged faculty numbers (Inside Higher Ed). SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr., the former U.S. education secretary under President Obama, attended the announcement and supported the cuts, saying the changes should have happened sooner (North Country Public Radio).

Notable people

The best-known popular-culture connection is television producer Chuck Lorre, who attended the State University of New York at Potsdam for two years before dropping out to pursue his first artistic passion, music (Britannica). Lorre’s father, Robert Levine, ran a luncheonette on Long Island (Britannica).

What this profile does not claim

• It does not name or describe the Crane School of Music. Institutional materials call the school the birthplace of American music education, but that claim was only seen in search-result extracts and was never read in full in a citable source, so it is held back.
• It does not call SUNY Potsdam the oldest institution in the SUNY system or one of America’s first 50 colleges. Those claims appear in the college’s own marketing materials, which were not read in full this session.
• It does not report the final outcome of the 2023 downsizing plan — whether all 14 programs were ultimately eliminated or what the final staffing and enrollment figures became. The profile reports the announced plan, its terms, and its announced timeline only.