Our History

Wow, we're more than 50 years old!

We're old enough to know but still young enough to have fun.

Looking back, much has changed at SUNY Ulster but our focus on serving our students and community is unwavering. Check out our Timeline, created for our 50th Anniversary.

It all started on a temporary campus in the historic Ulster Academy Building in Kingston, NY in 1963. Our first class of less than 50 students graduated two years later. Since then, SUNY Ulster has conferred more than 14,000 degrees and has served over 400,000 students through its credit and noncredit courses.

Our main campus in Stone Ridge was selected from some 28 sites in Ulster County. Located on 165-acres of former farmlands and fields donated by the Leggett and Davenport families, you'll still see the apple trees as you enter the main entrance.

 

We broke ground for our first four buildings in 1965

 

and held our first classes in 1967.

 

In the early 1970s, Phase II of the campus development plan began and provided another 103,000-square-foot of space for classrooms, labs, facilities for physical education and health, and areas devoted to the arts and theater. The Ulster County Community College Foundation was established in 1976.

 

The early 1980s brought the Mid-Hudson Region Small Business Development Center to SUNY Ulster's campus, sponsored by the NY State Small Business Administration. In 1995, we opened our satellite location and Business Resource Center in Kingston, bringing the convenience of a one-stop shop for business development, education and training to the area.

Over the decades, new academic programs have been introduced to address the education and training needs of emerging careers, and to meet the 21st Century needs of our students and the Hudson Valley workforce.

Our campus facilities and technology have continuously been updated to support our educational programs. And new options for online and distance learning are always evolving here.

We will continue to grow in the years ahead. As part of our updated Master Plan, we plan on spending $30 million over the next five to six years. Partial funding is in place from both the State of New York and Ulster County to initiate building additions, and upgrade a number of classrooms and computer and science laboratories on our Stone Ridge campus.