OSWEGO, NY – Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s innovative proposal to tap into the potential of State University campuses to give an economic shot in the arm to Upstate communities won an enthusiastic vote of support this week from SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley.
“We will watch this proposal as it develops, explore the details and use every new opportunity it creates to grow new businesses affiliated with our campus, whether in Oswego or our other locations including our Metro Center in Syracuse,” said Stanley, who chairs the board of the CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity.
SUNY Oswego is already the largest employer in Oswego County and, like its sister campuses across the state, it is an economic engine that accounts for hundreds of millions of dollars of economic impact each year in the region.
The governor’s “Tax-Free NY” plan proposes to nurture new ventures on or near university campuses by eliminating all taxes on their cost of doing business for 10 years.
“It’s an intriguing proposal that has huge potential to bring innovative ventures along with new investment and jobs to our community,” the Oswego president said.
Even before the proposal passes, Stanley said she expects to be generating ideas from discussions with SUNY Oswego faculty, community partners and industry contacts so as to be ready to take full advantage of the emerging opportunities.
She noted that SUNY Oswego offers attractive features for potential entrepreneurs, including a School of Business perennially ranked among the best in the Northeast and academic specialties in such growing fields as electrical and computer engineering, software engineering, human-computer interaction, health services and biochemistry.
“Business owners can tap into our student body and graduates for their workforce and, in fact, these new entrepreneurs may come from the ranks of our graduates,” Stanley said.
The “Tax-Free NY” plan is another vote of confidence by the governor in the State University of New York, Stanley added.
“This proposal is in character with the forward thinking of Gov. Cuomo and his confidence in SUNY as an economic engine,” she said. “It is a next step, and one I am sure will not be the last in Gov. Cuomo’s plans to make New York state THE preferred destination for business growth.”
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