Binghamton University History
Binghamton University, located about four hours northwest of New York City, is one school among the State University of New York's massive state college and university system. The school is located on 887 acres near the Susquehanna River, in Vestal, N.Y. The campus has a 190-acre nature preserve, with wetlands and trails for hiking and biking. Binghamton is one of four colleges within the SUNY system offering a doctoral program, and has 11,515 undergraduate students and 2,920 graduate students.
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The Early Days
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Triple Cities College was the school's name when it was originally established in 1946 for the purpose of educating veterans returning from World War II. The college was a branch of Syracuse University at first, but four years later it became a part of the state's university system. It was then named Harpur College after Robert Harpur, a local pioneer and teacher at the time of the Revolutionary War .
As Harpur College
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Harpur's founders dreamed of having a college that could compete with the best liberal arts colleges of the northeast. In 1954, they decided to build a new campus on a beautiful tract of land on the other side of the Susquehanna River, away from the tin quonset huts where they'd been holding classes. The process was slow, and students commuted between the two campuses for several years before the new one was finally completed.
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Moved in 1961 -- Still Harpur College
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Harpur College was finally moved to the other side of the Susquehanna River in 1961, to the new city of Vestal, N.Y. Because of the school's increasing enrollment and academic excellence, Harpur was selected as one of four University Centers in the state's system that could grant doctoral degrees. The school was formally named the State University of New York at Binghamton in 1965.
Thomas J. Watson
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Thomas J. Watson was a significant figure in Binghamton's history. After founding IBM in the area, he was involved in funding Triple Cities College, which later became Harpur College of Arts and Sciences. Today, Harpur College has three branches: science, humanities and social science. The school's engineering department was named the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1983.
Recent Years
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In 1992, the name "Binghamton University" became the school's informal name, and this remains the name it's commonly known by. Today, the university has six colleges and schools: Harpur College of Arts and Sciences; Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science; the Decker School of Nursing; the College of Community and Public Affairs; School of Management; and the School of Education.
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References
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