When Syracuse University and several community members founded Utica College nearly 60 years ago, there was always the intention that the college would become independent.

That time is now.

Both colleges agreed last week that in 2016, UC will separate from SU to stand on its own as an accredited college.

Todd Hutton, president of UC, said the division is a natural step for the college.

‘From the very beginning, the founders of UC here in the city of Utica and the chancellor at SU have all envisioned a fully independent, fully separate college or university of Utica,’ he said. ‘So it really has been a 60-year journey.’

Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost at SU, said the only resource that would still connect the two colleges would be the libraries.

In 1946, UC, Triple Cities College – now Binghamton University – and a school in Poughkeepsie were formed to educate soldiers returning from combat in World War II.

Binghamton was eventually included in the State University of New York school system, while UC remained an entity of SU. Over time, UC made its own strides toward independence to become the fully separate institution that was originally intended. In 1995, SU and UC solidified this idea with an agreement on UC’s break, but no formal separation took place.

The current tie between SU and UC is visible on UC’s diplomas, with each graduate’s diploma printing the names of both institutions. Though not all undergraduate programs will have degrees strictly from UC until 2011, some programs already offer those diplomas.

‘We will always be able to celebrate our beginnings with Syracuse and be able to take great pride in that,’ Hutton said. ‘That will always be a part of who we are. Now that we’re responsible for ourselves, fully responsible for ourselves, we can actively aspire to be what our community thinks we should be in 30 or 40 years.’

smtracey@syr.edu

Published on September 30, 2008 at 12:00 pm