History of the Core Values Statement

The 1993 All College Conference featured four threaded discussions on important college themes. Out of one of the discussion threads, facilitators developed a statement of 11 "core values" of SUNY Empire State College and presented them at the closing plenary session, where they were generally endorsed by the gathering. Born informally in an energizing moment, the statement became an important point of reference for many in the college.

A college Senate discussion in December 2002 resulted in an initiative to revisit and update the core values statement, in order to define our common ground as of the present.

  • During the 2003 All College Conference -- 10 years after the original statement was developed -- the Office of Academic Affairs, Mentoring Institute and college Senate sponsored sessions in which we revisited the core values statement and gathered input for a possible revision.
  • The 2003 governance retreat featured plenary and breakout sessions on how our educational principles apply across learning modes at Empire State College, and also informed the core values work.
  • Drawing on these discussions, a task force that included Marianne Arieux (Hudson Valley Center mentor and former Senate chair), Eric Ball (Center for Distance Learning mentor and area coordinator), Joyce Elliott (provost), Leslie Ellis (Senate chair and Hudson Valley Center director of academic review), Cathy Leaker (Long Island Center mentor), and Alan Mandell (Mentoring Institute director and Metropolitan Center mentor) drafted a revised core values statement and facilitated discussions at the 2004 All College Conference.
  • The task force presented a new draft for discussion at the 2004 All Areas of Study meeting; integrated input into a further draft for one last round of discussion by local centers and governance groups
  • The task force completed a final draft, posted it online, and forwarded it to the college Senate for action as a resolution at the May 20, 2005 Senate meeting.

Resolution

Presented to the Empire State College Senate from the Core Values Task Force for action at the May 20, 2005 Senate meeting.

Resolved: The Empire State College Senate endorses the attached statement of the Core Values of Empire State College, dated May 2005.