Buffalo State College history

Eighty-six students attended the Buffalo Normal School on the first day of classes on September 13, 1871.

1873 The first class graduates.

In 1888 the school adopted the name, “State Normal and Training School”, and with a new name and expanding enrollment, began construction of a science building.2

1894 A separate residence is built for the principal, then James M. Cassety.

1910 The Household Arts Department opens with 75 applicants.

1917 The first summer session and Saturday extension classes begin for practicing teachers.

Since 1923, the UB School of Management has built an impressive reputation as one of the best schools of business in the world.

1930 The Art Education Department, the only one in the United States maintained under state auspices, is established.

When the State Teachers College at Buffalo (later SUNY Buffalo State) moved to its new five-building Elmwood campus in 1931, its flagship building was Rockwell Hall.

1944 The Exceptional Education Department is founded, focusing primarily on physically challenged children.

In 1946, a $1 million state allotment allowed more renovations with funds allocated to construction for a library, science, and industrial arts building, expansion of the gym, converting the old industrial arts building into a Home Economics Department.

1947 The Art Education Department, under the chairmanship of Doctor Stanley Czurles, is the largest in the United States.

At this time the school adopted yet another name change and became the “New York State College for Teachers at Buffalo.” In 1948 the school built the first dormitory, Pioneer Hall, on the site of the existing Moot Hall.4

A $1 million gift from 1950 alumna Eleanore Woods Beals and her husband, Vaughn Beals, creates the Woods-Beals Chair in Urban and Rural Education, the college's first endowed chair.

1952 The college acquires 435 acres of wooded land near Franklinville (later expanded to 617 acres) for the Whispering Pines College Camp.

1954 The curriculum expands with the addition of bachelor of science in education programs in early secondary education, including English, French, Spanish, mathematics, social studies, and general science.

In 1961, Buffalo State was the first institution in the SUNY system to offer a study-abroad program, a semester-long immersion program in Siena, Italy.

In 1962, the University of Buffalo became the University at Buffalo, when UB was incorporated into the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

1966 The college acquires a 7.9-acre site at the foot of Porter Avenue for a freshwater field station.

In his later books of poetry, most notably Pieces (1968), Creeley’s poems are equally self-contained.

1969 New degree programs include the bachelor of science in industrial technology, developed by Doctor Myron E. Lewis; the bachelor of science in home economics; the bachelor of arts in psychology and political science; and the master of arts in chemistry, biology, and philosophy.

The 1970’s were turbulent times on campus; in May 1970 students took over Rockwell Hall to protest the US invasion of Cambodia and the deaths of students at Kent State.

1971 Muhammad Ali is a featured speaker at the third annual Black Arts Festival, sponsored by the Black Liberation Front Board, and actress Mildred Dunnock appears in two performances of A Place without Doors in Upton Hall Auditorium.

1975 Social work program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (the first social work program in Western New York to be accredited by the Council on Social Work Education).

Creeley’s Selected Poems appeared in 1976.

The Business Department at SUNY Buffalo State was established in 1979.

In April 1982, it was renamed the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium in honor of its greatest benefactor.

In 1983 the “Friends of Rockwell Hall” went public with their concern over the building’s seriously deteriorating condition.

In September of 1984, President D. Bruce Johnstone, Assemblyman William B. Hoyt, and State Senator Anthony B. Masiello kicked off the “Rockwell Renaissance” by taking a sledgehammer to an old auditorium wall.

The Performing Arts Center reopened in October 1987 with a gala celebration titled Festival of Five.

1989 Doctor F. C. Richardson becomes president, succeeding Doctor D. Bruce Johnstone, who becomes chancellor of the SUNY system.

Buffalo State College completed and opened the $19 million Sports Arena in 1991.

1992 Ground is broken for an expanded and renovated Great Lakes field station at the Porter Avenue site.

1993 Three commencement ceremonies in the new Sports Arena mark the first time graduation has been held on campus in 23 years.

In 1994, the School of Management launched an Executive MBA program for top managers, which has attracted the brightest management talent from the area's leading companies.

1996 The college celebrates its quasquicentennial.

In 1997, the school's part-time MBA program was transformed into the Professional MBA program, creating a more convenient and streamlined part-time evening program for working professionals.

The Frank C. Moore Student Apartment Complex opened in 1998.

1999 First women's ice hockey team joins Intercollegiate Athletics.

But for the population born right before or after September 11, 2001, this might be the first event they recall of such prominence, said

In 2004 the theater underwent $1.2 million in major technological upgrades and refurbishments.

The Performing Arts Center reopened in March 2005 with a sold-out performance from David Sanborn.

In 2008 the new $33 million Burchfield Penney Art Center on campus opened to the public.

Aaron Podolefsky becomes the eighth president of Buffalo State on July 1, 2010.

President Podolefsky steps down as the college’s eighth president, effective July 31, 2013.

Buffalo State College embarks on an ambitious roster of capital projects that will result in nearly $350 million of new projects and improvements to campus by 2014.

Buffalo State receives the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s 2015 Community Engagement Classification.

College ranks 26th nationally in Washington Monthly magazine’s 2016 master’s universities rankings.

Buffalo State is the highest-ranked four-year college in Western New York, according to Washington Monthly magazine’s 2019 “Best Bang for the Buck Colleges in the Northeast” ratings.

Buffalo State receives the 2020 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education.