SUNY Cobleskill Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Anne Myers, at podium, is joined by representatives from the Four Partners in Schoharie County. From left, are, state Sen. James Seward, Dr. Myers, Paul Berard of the College Council, Assemblyman Pete Lopez, Chair of the Board of Supervisors Earl Van Wormer, Department of Planning and Development representative Lee Pratt, Executive Director of the Schoharie County Chamber of Commerce Jodie Rutt, and Chair of the Chamber of Commerce Eric Stein.

SUNY Cobleskill Receives $49 M in State Capital Funding

With the New York state budget recently passed, SUNY Cobleskill received nearly $49 million toward campus projects that will advance its facilities master plan and address critical maintenance at the college. The college received the funding due in large part of the efforts of New York State Senator James Seward (R-Milford) and Assemblyman Pete Lopez (R, C, I-Schoharie).

SUNY Cobleskill will receive $38.2 million in the state’s 2008-09 budget for construction of a new Agriculture, Science and Technology building. Another $3.7 million of the state funding will be used for an environmental science and technology building that will also house a federally funded biowaste-to-bioenergy research project. The campus will also receive $7 million for critical maintenance, including updating existing infrastructure around the campus.

The new agriculture, science and technology building, which is set to replace several small buildings that house the existing fishery, greenhouses and some wildlife classes, and will create one building for the fisheries and wildlife, plant science and animal science programs. With many of the buildings far outdated, this project will breath new life into the agricultural part of SUNY Cobleskill.

“The capital funding will be spent on laboratories for researching new energy and other technologies, including the gasifier project for which we have already received almost $4 million in federal appropriations,” said SUNY Cobleskill Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Anne Myers. “A new agricultural science building is long overdue as our present facilities were constructed 50 years ago for a different set of circumstances that would not have foreseen aquaponics, energy efficient greenhouses, sustainable agriculture, and other new developments in agriculture. We will now be better able to prepare our students to meet the challenges of the future.”

The funding is included in a new State University of New York five-year capital plan.

“SUNY Cobleskill is fortunate to be in a community that, because of its size and values, has created the concept of Four Partners: Schoharie County Government, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Farm Bureau as well as the college itself,” continued Myers. “We speak with one voice, and this year those partners spoke loudly and clearly for the facilities needed to educate the next generation of leaders. On top of this, we have unparalleled representation in the legislature in Senator Jim Seward and Assemblyman Peter Lopez, who know the needs of the community — but who also do their homework. We presented a strong case they could believe in and they helped deliver for the future of New York.”

New York State Sen. James Seward, at podium, and Assemblyman Pete Lopez, far right, shared the proposed capital projects for SUNY Cobleskill including a new Agriculture, Science and Technology Building and a building for the college’s gasifier research project during a press conference on Monday. SUNY Cobleskill Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Anne Myers, at left, and Paul Berard of the College Council joined the college community in thanking Seward and Lopez for their efforts.