State University of New York at Geneseo


The State University of New York College at Geneseo is a public liberal arts college in Geneseo, New York, United States. It is the state's public honors college and part of the State University of New York system. The college was founded in 1867 as the "Wadsworth Normal and Training School" before it became part of the new State University of New York system as a state liberal arts college in 1948.

History

The initial predecessor to SUNY Geneseo opened in 1867 as the "Wadsworth Normal and Training School" through an act of the New York State Legislature. However, the legislature later changed the new college's name to the Geneseo Normal and Training School before it officially opened on September 13, 1871.
In 1962, the school adopted its current name, "State University of New York College at Geneseo". Just two years later, in 1964, the school began to offer four-year bachelor's degrees in subjects other than education.

Academics

Geneseo is a public liberal arts college with 61 undergraduate majors, 5 master's programs, and 67 interdisciplinary minors. The most popular majors, in descending order, are education, business, the social sciences, biology, and psychology.
Geneseo is part of the New York Space Grant Consortium, and is provided grants by NASA to support outer-space related research on-campus..

Administration

Following the retirement of long-time president Christopher Dahl, Denise Battles became the college's president in July 2015. Melinda Treadwell assumed the role on October 27, 2025.

Rankings and admissions

Admissions

Geneseo's acceptance rate is 65% was of 2021.

Rankings

Forbes ranked SUNY Geneseo 156th out of the top 500 rated private and public colleges and universities in America for the 2024–25 report. Geneseo was also ranked 69th among public colleges and 66th in the northeast.

Phi Beta Kappa

Geneseo has a chapter of the oldest academic honor society in the United States, Phi Beta Kappa. SUNY's four university centers already had chapters; Geneseo's establishment of a chapter is significant because it was the first of New York's thirteen state comprehensive colleges to receive the honor.
The inaugural ΦΒΚ class was inducted to Geneseo's Alpha-Gamma of New York chapter in April 2004.

Campus

At the far end of the South Village Residences, the college maintains the Spencer J. Roemer Arboretum wherein are preserved "more than 70 species of trees, shrubs and wildflowers, including a magnificent group of oak trees which are more than 200 years old, and several black walnut trees estimated to be over 100 years old."

Student life

began at Geneseo in 1871, originally as literary societies. The college hosts several local Greek organizations along with national organizations, as is common in the SUNY schools. As of 2019, about 30% of students were active in either social or professional and service Greek organizations.

Athletics

The University athletics team are composed of 19 varsity teams. All teams compete at the NCAA Division III level and all teams compete in the Empire 8 conference. In men's ice hockey the Geneseo Knights are known as the "Geneseo Ice Knights".

Notable alumni and faculty

Alumni

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