The College of Staten Island is the product of a merger in 1976 of Staten Island Community College (SICC), founded in 1956, and Richmond College, founded in 1965. Richmond College had been threatened with closure because of New York City's financial crisis, while SICC, because of its status as a community college, received state support. The merger was particularly logical since the community college offered two-year degrees, while Richmond College was an "upper divisional" college (the third in the nation) that offered degrees to those in their third and fourth years of schooling.
The College of Staten Island has been located on the grounds of the former Willowbrook State School since 1993. It is the largest campus, in terms of physical size, in New York City. Before the relocation to Willowbrook, the college had a split campus, located at the former Staten Island Community College (in Sunnyside, on Todt Hill; the campus now houses the Michael J. Petrides School) and Richmond College (in St. George).
Presidents
Walter L. Willig, 1955–1968,[3] was the inaugural president of College of Staten Island predecessor institution Staten Island Community College (SICC). His academic area of expertise was civil engineering.
Herbert Schueler, 1966–1973,[3] was the first president of College of Staten Island predecessor institution Richmond College. His academic specialties were German literature and philosophy.
William M. Birenbaum, 1968–1976,[3] served as president of College of Staten Island predecessor institution Staten Island Community College (SICC) until the merger of SICC and Richmond College in 1976, which resulted in the formation of the College of Staten Island. His academic focus was access to higher education for all.
Edmond Volpe, 1976–1994,[3] an American literature scholar, retired in 1994, after having successfully handled the merger of the two colleges and the unification of the two campuses.
Marlene Springer, 1994–2007,[3] an English and American literature scholar, under whose leadership the college improved academic standards, introduced several master's programs, raised the level of the faculty, added research institutes, and introduced an Honors College, The Verrazano School, and the CSI High School for International Studies, retired in August 2007
Tomás D. Morales, 2007–2012;[3] arranged for a free shuttle from the Staten Island Ferry to the Willowbrook campus; announced in May 2012 that he would be leaving to become president of California State University at San Bernardino some months after the faculty senate passed a motion of no confidence[4][5][6]
William J. Fritz, 2012-2021, geologist, appointed interim president on August 15, 2012, and as president on May 6, 2014[7][8]
Following the retirement of William J. Fritz on December 31, 2021, Timothy G. Lynch began serving as the college's interim president.
Academics
Research
CSI has more than 80 science labs which includes the Center for Developmental Neuroscience and The CUNY Interdisciplinary High-Performance Computing Center (HPCC).[9] HPCC is made to advance the university's educational and research mission by providing advanced high-performance computing technology resources and corresponding technical assistance to faculty and students.[10] It is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the region.[9]
As of the 2016 school year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked The College of Staten Island between 146th and 187th in their Best Regional Universities in the North category, and tied for 118th in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs that do not offer a doctorate, yet the college is unranked nationally.[13] For 2018, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings has placed The College of Staten Island between 601st and 800th in their US University Rankings category,[14] while Forbes ranks the college 451st nationally, 152nd in their Public Colleges category, and 164th in the Northeast.[15] Furthermore, Forbes ranks the college 111th in their America's Best Value Colleges. The college is also very research oriented and the High Impact Universities Research Performance Index (RPI) grades CSI with a B for its research performance.[16] Furthermore, the college is ranked 37th nationally in the 2017 SMI Ranking which measures the upward economic mobility.[17]
Athletics
The College of Staten Island athletic teams are known as the Dolphins. The university is a provisional member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II, and set to join the East Coast Conference (ECC) in the 2020–21 academic year.[18] The university previously competed at the Division III level as a member of the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) from 1979–80 to 2019–20.[19] The college began the transition to Division II during the 2019–20 season playing a mixed schedule of Division II and Division III teams, the college.[18] During the following two years of provisional status the Dolphins will compete in the conference and are eligible for conference awards but will not be eligible for ECC and NCAA championships until completing the transition process for the 2022–23 academic year.[18] The men's and women's swimming and diving teams have competed in the Northeast-10 Conference since the 2023-24 season, formerly competing in the Metropolitan Swimming Conference (METS) as the ECC doesn't sponsor the sport. The college competes in 16 sports. Men's sports are baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field (indoor and outdoor); women's sports are basketball, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field (indoor and outdoor).
Notable people
Faculty/staff
Nancy Bogen, professor of English, producer of mixed media combining photography, poetry and music
Patricia J. Brooks, professor of psychology, director of the Language Learning Laboratory
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