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President Joseph L. Kennedy

What makes SUNY Canton special?
There are many special things about SUNY Canton, but perhaps the most important to students is that we are organized to help students be successful. We have great, caring faculty. We use the latest technology to support our classes, and we have every type of support service that you can imagine. From the Writing Center to help you with your class papers to a Math Lab to help you prepare for your Algebra exam, we have the services a student needs to be successful.

How has the college changed since you became President in 1993?
We are not the same college. Not only are we in a new century, we are a new college designed to offer the type of education that students will need to compete in the modern economy. From a sleepy two-year college to a vibrant, ever-changing four-year college, the change has been amazing.

How will the college be different in 15 years from now?
I am almost afraid to predict. I can certainly imagine a college with more students learning from a distance than on-campus. Certainly, the educational experience is likely to involve even more technology and may very well be using the technology to arrange the students’ education around his/her schedule rather than requiring the students to attend a class on a set schedule. I can also imagine a college where you earn your credentials based on how much you have learned rather than how many hours you have been in class.

What sort of impact will the construction of the new Convocation, Athletic, and Recreation Center have?
The new center will give us a place to conduct the business of the college – from Opening Convocation to Graduation. We will also be able to showcase our athletic programs. Most of all, it will be a gathering place for our students, faculty, and staff; as well as the entire community.

If you were a student living on campus, would you be more likely to live on the residence hall’s Go Green! Floor or the Grasse River pet-friendly wing?
The pet-friendly wing! I love animals and have a dog and six cats. Well, not really a dog. He is a poodle and sees himself more as a manager of humans.

Favorite recent book:
Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell

Advice for incoming students:
Go to class – and find someone who works at the college to get to know.

Would you send your child to SUNY Canton?
My boys both graduated from SUNY Canton. One is now a funeral director, and the other is starting a career in student life. The next generation is right on the horizon. My granddaughter wants to be an animal trainer at Sea World and plans to get her start in the Vet Tech program. She is nine. My grandson just wants to play with his Nintendo DS. Information Technology, perhaps?

It might surprise people to know:
That I used to be a rabid rock climber and even climbed a 1000 foot wall in California. And you thought that I was born old?

My favorite aspect of SUNY Canton:
I love the sense of renewal that comes every Fall when a new generation of students arrive. Their eagerness and enthusiasm brings energy to the college and helps keep us young and engaged.

I enjoy when parents:
I love it when parents embarrass their children one more time by running to the front at graduation and taking pictures of them receiving their diplomas. I think that some want the pictures just to make sure that this was not just a dream.

Where I get my news:
My favorite news source is the Watertown Daily Times. You may not know this, but the Times is one of the best small newspapers in the U.S. They certainly make my first cup of coffee a little more enjoyable.

The website I visit the most:
www.newzjunky.com

My favorite gadget:
My Blackberry

Magazine I read:
Newsweek weekly and Smithsonian monthly

I’m pleased when students:
I am pleased when students go an entire week without causing me heartburn.

Best part about living in Canton:
I like winter, at least the first six or seven months of it. The cold winters make you gather with your friends around a warm fireplace to tell stories, and it is really the friends that make Canton a special place to be.

SUNY Canton’s best kept secret:
That our graduates get jobs and make a lot of money.

New students should not fall into the trap of:
The most important key to success in life is just to show up. The same is true in college – now, GO TO CLASS!

Favorite campus eatery:
My office. Our Food Service provides the best catering service in the North Country. There are two ways to make it to my office. One is to do something wonderful, and the other is to do something exceptionally stupid. The former gets you a meal catered by experts. The later gets you a bus ticket.

When our current students’ children go to college, what will it be like?
She will plug the generation 10 Bluetooth device into the port behind her left ear, and we will just download Algebra, Spanish, or whatever. The “education part” will focus on using the material to make the world a better place. Don’t laugh. A great deal of research is being conducted on ways to let the brain communicate directly with a computer.

Northern New York's college for technology, health, management, and public service.

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