State University of New York at Purchase

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**Purchase College, State University of New York**
Motto	"Think Wide Open"
Established	1967
Type	Public
President	Thomas Schwarz
Students	4,000
Location	Purchase, NY, United States
Campus	Suburban, 5 acres
Colors	Heliotrope & Puce
Mascot	Purchase Panthers
Website	www.purchase.edu

The State University of New York at Purchase, also known as Purchase College and SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal, visual, and performing arts college in Purchase, New York, United States, a part of the State University of New York system. It was founded in 1967 and was designed as a school that would combine conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with liberal arts and sciences programs. It has strong conservatory programs in Theater Arts & Film, Music, and Dance, and its School of Art + Design is well-respected. It has an enrollment of approximately 4,000 students, and is one of the Princeton Review's top 361 American Universities.

[edit] Academics

The Purchase College School of the Arts contains four professional conservatory programs for those looking for a career in the performing or visual arts, though very few eventually move forward to succeed.

The Visual Arts Building has 160,000 square feet of studios, exhibition spaces, workshops and labs.

The Dance Building was the first in America created specifically for the training of dancers.

The Music Building has two recital halls, 75 practice rooms, 80 Steinway pianos, and professional recording studios. The Studio Composition program was one of the first in the country, and the faculty and student showcase Purchase Records has earned 3 Grammy nominations for its 5 releases. The Film Conservatory is housed within the Music Building.

The Theatre Arts and Film Conservatory is divided into four departments (Acting, Dramatic Writing, Film, and Theatre Design/Technology).

Each conservatory program is highly selective and requires a portfolio or audition for admission.

Purchase students in the humanities and sciences make up about 2/3 of the college's student body. The college emphasizes creativity and independent study that culminates in a senior project featuring the student's original research or creative project. Many Purchase grads use their senior project as a spring board to a job or to professional or graduate school.

In addition, the campus offers outstanding athletic facilities and cultural opportunities.

The Neuberger Museum of Art, the eighth largest university museum in the nation, houses a permanent collection of 6,000 works of art and features a full schedule of exhibitions, lectures, films and inter-media events.

The Performing Arts Center, a five-theater complex considered the finest of its kind on the East Coast, presents more than 100 professional and student performances each year.

[edit] Culture

Purchase College, with its proximity to the cultural mecca of Manhattan and the variety of arts programs offered to its students, is a well-spring of cultural and counter-cultural movements. Social activism plays a healthy part in shaping the scene at Purchase, and many students choose to participate in Student Government, and various clubs and organizations.

Dance, Music, Theater, Film, and the Visual Arts dominate Purchase culture. Purchase Student Government and the college have provided spaces around campus for the display of student murals and a cornucopia of music can be heard bellowing from the campus' dormitory windows. Dance and theater productions are always an option for a "night out". The school is home to various performance venues, where Purchase bands and well-known touring artists take stage. The student-run Student Center has free-use billiards tables, ping pong tables, videogame arcade, two concert venues (the main Student Center stage, and Whitson's Memorial Greeting Hall), and a film screening area.

The students' musical tastes are celebrated at the school's annual Culture Shock Festival, the most well-attended program at the school. The weekend festival, typically held in April showcases the talents of purchase students as well as world renowned musical acts and performance artists. Recent Culture Shock headline performers include GWAR, Kool Keith, Animal Collective, GZA, Cat Power, Ween, Ghostface, Blonde Redhead, Bouncing Souls, Ghostface Killah, Saul Williams, Ted Leo, Biz Markie and Dead Prez.

Purchase is known for its GLBT culture, which is celebrated during the annual Fall Ball - where Drag Queens and Kings compete on stage for the year's crown. Punk and DIY sensibilities are very prominent as evidenced by the school's food co-op and student-run Student Center.

Students voice their opinions through a variety of campus media sources. Currently, there are three student-run publications; The Independent (weekly news source), The Submission (interdisciplinary journal of creativity), and Free Words (poli-literary journal).

Purchase has its own television station known as "PTV" (Purchase Television) which is cablecast on channel 69 on campus. The station is entirely student funded and run. In addition to the TV station, the school also has a student-run radio station, WPSR, which broadcasts on 1610 am, and is simulcast on the internet.

[edit] Campus

The site chosen for the campus was a 500-acre estate, Strathglass Farm, in the middle of Westchester County, 40 minutes from Manhattan. It was originally the property of Thomas Thomas, a Revolutionary war hero, whose family cemetery still remains on the campus. In order to transform the former cattle farm into a college for thousands of students, SUNY engaged some of the most prominent American architects to design the campus. Edward Larrabee Barnes created the master plan, and nine distinguished architectural firms designed specific buildings. Buildings on the campus are located in the center of the property, and are isolated from the surrounding community by wooded areas around the perimeter of the property. The college is adjacent to the Westchester County airport, and is across the street from PepsiCo's world headquarters.

Various parts of the Campus are currently undergoing renovation. A new student services building opened in 2006, providing one-stop-shopping for most administrative services. The 'mall', or main campus plaza, is currently undergoing renovations to improve its asthetics, create communal spaces, and to reduce flooding when it rains. Faced with increasing enrollment and rising demand for campus housing, a new dorm building with the first floor devoted to retail space is being built. Renovations will also include moving the main entrance to campus in order to make the facility more accessible to customers from off-campus.

[edit] Dorms & Apartments

[edit] Crossroads

Dormitory for freshman. Students are housed in doubles, triples, and 4-person, 6-person or 8-person suites (which contain 2, 3 or 4 doubles).

[edit] Farside

Freshman dormitory. Rooms are doubles, triples, and 4-person, 6-person or 8 person suites (which contain 2, 3 or 4 doubles).

[edit] Big Haus

Largest of the dormitories. 40% freshman, although students of all years are allowed there. Students are housed in doubles, triples, and 4-person, 6-person suites (which contain 2, 3 or 4 doubles). A limited number of singles (primarily for RAs) are made available to upperclassmen.

[edit] Outback

Opened in 2002. This dorm houses students of all years, however most are upperclassmen. Outback is not connected to the other three dorms. It has elevators and its own laundry room. Outback is a "wellness" dorm, with no alcohol, drugs, or tobacco products allowed through its doors. The name was voted on by students, narrowly beating out the name "Wham City."

[edit] The Olde Apartments (Phase I)

The OLDE has 3 streets - G, J, and H. In recent times G street is known for its parties on the weekend. In the past J street was the party street. All streets have upstairs and downstair apartments with kitchens. Most apartments in The Olde are 4 person apartments (with 2 singles and a double), but there are "Duplex" apartments with two floors that house 6 students (with 2 singles and 2 doubles). The Olde is regarded as "the dirtiest and loudest" apartment complex on campus.

[edit] The Commons "New" Apartments (Phase II)

The NEW apartments have several 4-person and 3-person apartment combos. It is the furthest student housing from the main campus area. Sheldon Grebstein's Speakeasy was set up in the New Apartments. There are no single rooms in The New.

[edit] Alumni Village

Alumni is the newest apartment complex on campus. Perks include single rooms for all students and a washer and dryer in every apartment. "Prep" housing is available in Alumni Village for students who need housing all year-round and want the option to stay during the academic year's longer breaks.

[edit] Fort Awesome

The newest dormitory was completed in summer of 2006. The name was chosen by students in an election, having been submitted by former General Programming Coordinator and Major Events Coordinator, Jesse Heffler. This dorm is all upperclass students, mostly sophomores. The student media services, including Purchase TV and WPSR, are likely to move to the new building in 2007.

[edit] Famous Alumni

Some of these and other alumni compose what has been called "The Purchase Mafia" by several different sources, including Edie Falco and Hal Hartley [1], [2], [3]. The term originated in multiple biographical listings of Purchase alumni on The Internet Movie Database. It was later picked up by the press when actress and Purchase alumn, Edie Falco, came to national attention as a result of her role on HBO's mob drama, The Sopranos.

Notable alumni and former students of Purchase include: