President's Office
 About CSI

The College

The College of Staten Island is a four-year, senior college of The City University of New York that offers exceptional opportunities to all its students. Programs in the liberal arts and sciences and professional studies lead to bachelor’s and associate’s degrees. The master’s degree is awarded in 13 professional and liberal arts and sciences fields of study. The College participates in doctoral programs of The City University Graduate School and University Center in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Physics, and Psychology.

A broad general education is assured through requirements that allow students to explore a range of fields of knowledge and acquire educational breadth in mathematics, the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Requirements for the bachelor’s degree provide a disciplined and cumulative program of study in a major field of inquiry. Enrollment in baccalaureate programs requires freshmen admission standards consonant with those of CUNY senior colleges. Enrollment in associate’s degree programs is open to all students with a high school diploma or the equivalent.

The Honors College offers a challenging curriculum and an enriched extracurricular environment. It is designed for a limited number of students who have demonstrated a well-developed commitment to learning and who intend to continue their undergraduate education in graduate and/or professional schools. Students who have earned, or expect to earn, a high school academic diploma with an average of at least 90 are eligible to apply for admission to the Honors College.

The College participates in the CUNY Honors College: University Scholars Program. Students who have been accepted into the CUNY Honors Program will participate simultaneously in the Honors Colleges of CSI and the University.

The academic year follows a two-semester pattern, with a separate summer session. Classes are scheduled days, evenings, and weekends. The College has an extensive Continuing Education program and offers off-campus courses with and without credit.

CSI 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 that offered 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 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 comprises 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

CUNY is governed by the Board of Trustees composed of 17 members, ten of whom are appointed by the Governor of New York State, 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. The individual colleges of CUNY have considerable latitude in governing their own affairs through various bodies representing faculty, students, and administrators. The Board of Trustees decides overall University policy and approves major new collegiate plans and programs.

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 Postsecondary Accreditation.

The Computer Science program is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). The Engineering Science program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (EAC/ABET), and the Electrical Engineering Technology program is accredited by the Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET. The Medical Technology program utilizes hospital affiliations accredited by the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS). The baccalaureate and associate degree programs in Nursing are accredited by
the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, 61 Broadway, New York, NY 10006; 1.212.363.5555. The Physician Assistant program, offered by the College is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education. The Physical Therapy program
is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education of the American Physical Therapy Association. The programs in Education have been accepted into candidacy by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.

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.

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 Staten Island. Mature trees and woodlands, flowering trees and ornamental plantings, fields and outdoor athletic facilities, the great lawn, sculpture, and seating areas create a rural oasis in an urban setting.

Fourteen renovated neo-Georgian buildings serve as classrooms, laboratories, and offices. The academic buildings house 300 classrooms, laboratories and instructional spaces, study lounges, department and program offices, and faculty offices.

North and South Academic Quadrangles are connected by the Alumni Walk, with the Library and Campus Center as focal points. The Center for the Arts is 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.

Sixteen 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. The artists and their 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 ultramodern 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 provides facilities for a complete student life including 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 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, the Library research and study facilities are enhanced by computer data-based operations available to all students. The Library Media Services make 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 multipurpose facility and surrounding athletic fields serve the intercollegiate and intramural sports and recreation programs for students. On a membership basis, faculty, staff, alumni, and the general public also have access to the facilities.

Mission of the College of Staten Island

The College of Staten Island, one of the 11 senior colleges of The City University of New York, is, like the University, committed to both access and excellence. This double commitment is especially critical given CSI’s status as the only public college on Staten Island and the one instance in which CUNY is represented in a borough by one unit alone. The College offers the associate degree in selected areas, a comprehensive range of baccalaureate programs, selected master’s programs, and, in cooperation with the CUNY Graduate Center, doctoral programs.

The College of Staten Island’s remarkable campus, with its superb laboratories, studios, and classrooms, serves the pivotal endeavors of teaching and research that promote discovery and dissemination of knowledge while developing human minds and spirits.

The College’s faculty, administration, and staff practice their commitment to educational excellence as they instill in students preparing to enter their chosen careers an enduring love of learning, a sensitivity to pluralism and diversity, a recognition of their responsibility to work for the common good, and an informed respect for the interdependence of all people.

Goals

1. To view the quality and success of the College’s educational mission not by the qualifications of entering students alone but by the qualifications of those we educate and those who receive degrees.
2. To foster and enhance faculty commitment to effective teaching and learning.
3. To encourage and support faculty scholarship, research, publication, creative work, and the involvement of students as partners in research and creative activities.
4. To extend the benefits of the College to the larger community by making educational, intellectual, and cultural activities available to all, and by supporting research programs that serve the people of Staten Island, its agencies, and institutions.
5. To offer rigorous general education and degree programs in the liberal arts and sciences and in a range of professional disciplines.
6. To advance the effective use of technology in all aspects of the College’s operations, so as to strengthen support services, teaching, and research.
7. To provide, with efficiency and sensitivity, the broad range of academic and administrative services required by a commuting student population.
8. To further, in all aspects of the College’s activities, an appreciation of the pluralism of American society and an awareness of the importance of global education and international understanding.
9. To cultivate civility and dialogue between and among all members of the College’s communities.
10. To build academic and research programs through collaborative initiatives with the community colleges, senior colleges, and the Graduate Center of The City University of New York, and with national and international counterparts.
11. To forge professional relationships with educators at all levels, and to work collectively to seek new and effective approaches to K-12 education.
12. To strengthen student interest in life-long learning, their purposeful participation in the issues that face our society, and their lively commitment to their own physical and spiritual well-being