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State University of New York at Cortland

The State University of New York at Cortland (SUNY Cortland, C-State, or Cortland State) is a public university in Cortland, New York. It was founded in 1868 and is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

Former names

Cortland Normal School (1868–1941)
Cortland State Teachers College (1941–1961)
State University of New York College at Cortland (1961–2023)

Seize the Moment, Feel the Momentum

1868 (1868)

$49.1 million (2020)[1]

Erik Bitterbaum

Ann McClellan

6,832 (Fall 2020)[2]

6,256 (Fall 2020)

576 (Fall 2020)

,
New York
,
United States

211 acres (0.85 km2)

Red and white

Blaze

History[edit]

The State University of New York Cortland was founded in 1868 as the Cortland Normal School. It included among its earliest students inventor and industrialist Elmer A. Sperry of Sperry Rand Corp.[3]


The campus continually grew, and in 1941, by an act of legislature and the board of regents, the institution became a four-year college providing courses leading to a bachelor's degree and soon was widely acknowledged as Cortland State Teachers College. In 1948, Cortland was a founding member of the State University of New York. In 1961, thirteen years later, the college was officially renamed as the State University of New York College at Cortland.[4]


On January 1, 2023, the State University of New York changed the name of the college from State University of New York College at Cortland to the State University of New York at Cortland.[5]

Campus[edit]

Cortland is off of Interstate 81, between Syracuse and Binghamton. The college's main campus covers 191 acres (770,000 m2), and includes 30 traditional and modern buildings. Fourteen of these structures are residence halls that provide housing for approximately 3,000 students. SUNY Cortland also operates its Outdoor Education Center at Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks, the Hoxie Gorge Nature Preserve outside Cortland, and the Brauer Education Center on the Helderberg Escarpment near Albany.


The U.S. Department of the Interior in 2004 designated Camp Pine Knot, now known as the Huntington Memorial Camp and part of its Outdoor Education center at Raquette Lake, as the first and only National Historic Landmark within the State University of New York (SUNY). Camp Pine Knot was the first Great Camp of the Adirondacks and the birthplace of what is now known as the Adirondack style of architecture. SUNY Cortland has 55,000 alumni who live in all 50 states and in more than 40 countries.

Organization and administration[edit]

Cortland is a comprehensive college within the State University of New York system.

Academic rankings

60 (tie) of 159

500 of 500

401 (tie) of 600

Chair of Natural Sciences (1869–1889)

Thomas Blanchard Stowell

anthropology (1973)

Robert S. Newman

political science (1979–present)

Robert Spitzer

Official website

Official athletics website