Dear Commons Community,
Earlier this week, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Budget Proposal for next year attracted a lot of attention mainly because of his universal pre-K initiative. He also made several modest proposals for public higher education. The good news is that there are no budget cutbacks. Below is an except describing his initiatives. For those of you who follow this blog who are interested in instructional technology, there is specific language in the first initiative that refers to “use technology, including but not limited to the expansion of on-line learning”.
Tony
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Major Initiatives
- Expand and Launch Another Round of NYSUNY 2020 and NYCUNY 2020. The Executive Budget includes $110 million for a new and expanded round of NYSUNY 2020 and NYCUNY 2020 grants, $55 million for each university system. Funding will continue to be awarded through a bottom-up competitive process by which campuses develop plans for improving academic outcomes, finding efficiencies, and promoting innovation and economic development. The initiative will give priority to plans that: use technology, including but not limited to the expansion of on-line learning, to improve academic success and job opportunities for students; leverage economic and academic opportunities through the START-UP NY program; and provide experiential learning opportunities that connect students to the workforce. This strategic investment will continue the Governor’s initiative to make our university systems into incubators of academic excellence and economic growth.
- Offer a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Scholarship. The Executive Budget includes $8 million in funding for a new STEM scholarship program. Full tuition scholarships to any SUNY or CUNY college or university will be offered to the top ten percent of high school graduates if they pursue a STEM career and work in New York for five years. The scholarship will encourage the best and brightest students to pursue STEM college degrees and build their careers here in New York in one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy.
- Create a College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity. The Executive Budget includes $15 million in capital resources to fund initial planning and development costs for a new College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity within SUNY. The College will create the world’s most comprehensive academic programs, research, and training opportunities for aspiring professionals, policy leaders,emergency managers and first responders. Through its affiliation with SUNY, the College can also serve as an economic driver for the State through the development of new companies and industries under the START-UP NY program.
- Establish a School of Pharmacy at Binghamton University. The Executive Budget includes $10 million in capital resources to fund initial planning and development costs for a new School of Pharmacy at Binghamton University. This initiative will help Binghamton continue to build its stature as a premier research university, expand enrollment, create jobs, increase economic activity in the region, and help meet health care workforce needs in the State.
- Create the NY Genomic Medicine Network.As the next major investment of the “Buffalo Billion,” the Executive Budget will provide funding for the State University of New York at Buffalo to partner with the NY Genome Center in New York City in a network that connects the medical community in New York City with the computational infrastructure at the University at Buffalo and the research community at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. This initiative will lead to job creation and significant advances in the emerging field of genomic medicine, and develop Upstate New York in as a national center for genomic research and jobs.
- Connect the NY Youth Works Program to Community Colleges.To encourage more employers to hire inner-city youth, the Executive Budget will tie the occupational training component of the NY Youth Works Program–an initiative established by Governor Cuomo to combat youth unemployment–to the Job Linkage Program. Businesses that want to hire under the NY Youth Works Program, but need training, could partner with a community college that will offer a specialized certification under the Job Linkage program.