Graduate Catalog
 About the College

The College of Staten Island is a senior college of The City University of New York. The Master’s degree is awarded in selected fields of study: Biology (MS); Business Management (MS); Cinema and Media Studies (MA); Computer Science (MS); Education:Childhood (Elementary) Education (MSEd); Adolescence (Secondary)Education (MSEd); Special Education (MSEd); English (MA);Environmental Science (MS); History (MA); Liberal Studies (MA);Neuroscience, Mental Retardation, and Developmental Disabilities(MS); Nursing: Adult Health Nursing (MS) and Gerontological Nursing (MS); and Physical Therapy (BS/MS). The Post-Master’s Advanced Certificates are awarded in Leadership in Education, Adult Health Nursing, and Gerontological Nursing.

The Doctoral program in Polymer Chemistry is offered jointly with the City University Graduate School and University Center and Brooklyn College. The College also participates in the City University Doctoral programs in Biology (Neuroscience), Computer Science,Psychology (Learning Processes), and Physics.

The academic year follows a two-semester pattern, with a separate summer session. Classes are scheduled days, evenings, and weekends.

The College of Staten Island of The City University of New York was founded in 1976 through the union of two existing colleges —Staten Island Community College and Richmond College. Staten Island Community College, the first community college in the University, opened in 1955. Richmond College, an upper-division college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees to students who had successfully completed the first two years of college study elsewhere, was founded in 1965. The merger of these two colleges resulted in the only public four-year institution of higher learning on Staten Island.

The Campus

Completed in 1994, the 204-acre campus of CSI/CUNY is the largest site for a college in New York City. Set in a park-like landscape, the campus is centrally located on the Island. Mature trees and woodlands,flowering trees and ornamental plantings, fields and outdoor athletic facilities, the Great Lawn, sculpture, and seating areas create a green oasis in an urban setting.

Fourteen renovated neo-Georgian buildings serve as classrooms, laboratories, and offices. The academic buildings house approximately 300 classrooms, laboratories and instructional spaces,study lounges, department and program offices, and faculty offices.The Library and Campus Center serve as focal points for the Academic Quadrangles with the Center for the Arts located midway between the Quadrangles at the fountain plaza. The Sports and Recreation Center and the athletic fields are located near the main entrance to the campus.

Fifteen works of art, a permanent collection of works either commissioned or purchased through the Art Acquisitions Program of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, are installed throughout the campus. Artists and the free-standing sculptures and reliefs are: Vincenzo Amato, Body of Hector/Glaucus; Miriam Bloom, Shooliloo; Fritz Bultman, Garden at Nightfall (extended loan); Chryssa, Untitled; Lucille Friedland, Big Stride (gift of the artist); Red Grooms, Marathon; Sarah Haviland, Staten Island Arch; Jon Isherwood, Borromini’s Task; Zero Higashida, Maquette for a Small Universe; Valerie Jaudon, Untitled; Niki Ketchman, Red Inside; Win Knowlton, Ellipse; Mark Mennin, Torak; Don Porcaro, Moon Marker; and Hans Van de Bovenkamp, Stele in the Wind.

Astrophysical Observatory: The 16-foot dome astrophysical observatory was completed in 1996. In addition to serving students in astronomy courses, the facility is used for faculty and student research projects, environment monitoring projects, and community programs.

Biological Sciences/Chemical Sciences Building: An ultra- modern facility, the building contains classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, research facilities for faculty and students, the Center for Environmental Science, and the Center for Developmental Neuroscience and Developmental Disabilities.

Campus Center: The Campus Center incorporates facilities for a complete program of student activities and offices for student organizations, food services, health services, a study lounge, bookstore, and the studios of WSIA-FM, the student-operated radio station.

Center for the Arts: Entered from the Great Lawn and from the Alumni Walk, the Center for the Arts houses two academic wings for programs in the arts as well as superb public spaces: the Clara and Arleigh B. Williamson Theatre, a 900-seat concert hall, a recital hall, an experimental theater, lecture halls, an art gallery, and a small conference center.

Library: Designed with inviting reading rooms, open shelves, and study carrels, its research and study facilities are enhanced by computer data-based operations available to all students. Library Media Services makes accessible pedagogical multimedia materials to distant classrooms and laboratories by means of the campus fiber-optic network.

Sports and Recreation Center: This 77,000 square-foot, multi-purpose facility and surrounding athletic fields serve the intercollegiate and intramural sports and recreation programs for students.

Research Institutes and Centers

The College of Staten Island hosts one CUNY-wide research institute:
Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies
Dr. Ruth Stark, Director
Office: Biological Sciences/Chemical Sciences Building (6S), Room 228 The Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies, established in 2003, builds on the research strength of campus-based faculty in Chemistry, Biology, and allied fields; on the collaborative research alliances the College has made with other institutions; and on our unique laboratory capabilities. The Institute coordinates existing and new research investigations for both natural and engineered macromolecular assemblies of biological and medical importance, and integrates and expands graduate and undergraduate educational programs in these areas across CUNY. The Institute fosters mutually advantageous partnerships with private industry in its biotechnology research and development efforts.

Academic centers at CSI devoted to research are the Center for Developmental Neuroscience and Developmental Disabilities and the Center for Environmental Science.

Center for Developmental Neuroscience and Developmental Disabilities
Dr. Robert Freedland, Managing Director
Office: Biological Sciences/Chemical Sciences Building (6S), Room 320
The Center for Developmental Neuroscience and Developmental Disabilities (CDN) is supported jointly with the New York State Institute for Basic Research (IBR). The Center conducts, promotes, and sponsors research, education, and training in the developmental neurosciences with special emphasis on research and educational programs in the specific field of developmental disabilities. The Center provides for collaborative efforts between the College and IBR in offering the Master of Science degree in Neuroscience, Developmental Disabilities, and Mental Retardation, as well as with the University’s doctoral programs in Biology, subprogram in Neuroscience and Physiology, and in Psychology, subprogram in Learning Processes. On the CSI campus,the Center has established research laboratories for investigations in cellular and molecular neuroscience and provides advanced research training for graduate and undergraduate students.

Center for Environmental Science
Dr. Alfred M. Levine, Director
Office: Biological Sciences/Chemical Sciences Building (6S), Room 310
The Center for Environmental Science, established in 1987, provides support for research and policy recommendations concerning environmental problems. One of the major purposes of the Center is to define and solve environmental problems on Staten Island and its environs through research that includes studies of respiratory diseases, toxic and carcinogenic chemicals in the air, and the population at risk for lung cancer.

Center for the Study of Staten Island: Staten Island Project (SIP)
Dr. Mirella Affron, Director
The Center for the Study of Staten Island is designed to integrate the work of the College with the public affairs concerns of the people of Staten Island. To that end, it mediates and facilitates the collaboration of the College's faculty, students, and staff with government, civic organizations, and businesses in order to identify and assist in finding solutions to the borough's pressing public issues. More specifically, the Center serves as an information and consultation resource to prepare citizens and leaders to make better informed decisions about public life; it fosters the development of faculty research and undergraduate and graduate education through engagement with the Staten Island community; and it builds bridges to other public affairs institutes and local communities as a spur to innovations in public life on Staten Island. Whenever possible, the Center seeks to partner with community groups and agencies in advancing initiatives of mutual interest and in fulfilling consonant missions.

While encouraging and facilitating debate that accommodates differing and sometimes conflicting positions on controversial issues crucial to the community, the Center is committed to maintaining a nonpartisan stance.

The City University of New York

The City University of New York (CUNY), of which the College of Staten Island is a part, traces its beginning to 1847 and a public referendum that provided tuition-free higher education for residents of New York City . The municipal college system grew rapidly and its various colleges were consolidated as The City University of New York by an act of the New York State Legislature in 1961. CUNY is comprised of 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, a graduate school, a law school, and a medical school. It is the largest municipal college system and the third largest university in the nation.

The Board of Trustees

The City University is governed by the Board of Trustees composed of 17 members, ten of whom are appointed by the Governor of New York, and five by the Mayor of New York City. The chairperson of the University Faculty Senate serves ex officio , without vote; the chairperson of the University Student Senate serves ex officio , with vote.

Sponsorship and Accreditation

CSI is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104; 1.215.662.5606. The Commission on Higher Education is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education and the Commission on Recognition of Post secondary Accreditation. The MA in Liberal Studies is accredited by the Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs. The MS in Adult Health Nursing is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, 61 Broadway, New York, NY 10006; 1.212.363.5555. The BS/MS program in Physical Therapy is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education of the American Physical Therapy Association.

Copies of these accreditation documents as well as the respective accreditation documents for the various academic disciplines are available for review in the College Library.