We’re going to be at the Virtual College Fair on CollegeWeekLive:  Will you be there?

Join us between Wednesday, March 24th and Thursday, March 25th from 10 AM to 10 PM on both days, at our CollegeWeekLive virtual booth to learn more about Purchase College. It’s free and easy.

Visit our virtual booth to chat with admission reps and current students, watch live video presentations and receive information on key admissions topics.
PLUS, by attending CollegeWeekLive you are eligible to win a scholarship!

Of course, if you are not interested in the virtual fair or think you will be in our neighborhood sometime soon, go to www.purchase.edu/visit to schedule a visit to our campus.

Bolero Suburbia

Staged to Ravel’s Bolero, this work, commissioned for our community by The PAC, will be created by NYC choreographer Larry Keigwin along with his Keigwin + Company. Bolero Suburbia celebrates life in Westchester and Fairfield counties.

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!

Click on the link to see a video that further explains this event: http://www.artscenter.org/community/

CASTING CALL:
Saturday, February 6th
12 noon
@ The PepsiCo Theatre in The PAC
735 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
Wear Clothes You Can Move In!

Performances will be 8:00 pm, May 6 and 8 @ The PAC
Rehearsals – evenings and some weekends – start Feb. 15 at The PepsiCo Theatre

For more information, check us out at:
www.artscenter.org or call (914)-251-6222

Happy New Year everyone! For all you new Purchase students out there, it’s time to get into gear for the start of your first semester at Purchase. Winter Orientation is coming up on January 19th and you need to be all squared away with your Next Steps for things to go smoothly. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to do, if you haven’t done it already:

Visit www.purchase.edu/nextsteps to do the following:

• Pay your Enrollement Deposit – In order to secure your place at Purchase, you must pay your enrollment deposit. It’s fast and easy to do online.
• Activate your Purchase College e-mail account -  If you have not yet activated your email account, you will need your Application ID number which was on your admission letter.  From this point forward, Admissions and other campus offices will begin using your Purchase e-mail (not your personal e-mail) to communicate with you, so activate it and check it often!
• Meningitis Waiver Form – Review information on meningitis and submit your meningitis waiver.
• Health Report & Physician’s Certificate – Review important information on your Health Report & Physician’s Certificate.
• Submit Immunization Records – Before you can register for classes, you must submit your immunization records (form available online to print) and Meningitis Information Response Form (completed online) to the Health Services office.  You must also set up your Purchase e-mail account to complete your Meningitis Response Form online and access online course registration and payment functions.  To begin, go to http://studentservices.purchase.edu. 
• Pay your on-campus housing deposit if you require housing on campus. Please note, housing is limited so you should do this right away if you need to live on campus.
• Academic Advising – If you’re a Liberal Arts student, once you’ve got all of the above done, you’ll need to make an Advising  Appointment by emailing the Academic Resource Center at advising@purchase.edu to set-up a personalized advising appointment.  For new transfer students in the Visual and Performing Arts, advising and registration will take place in person on Tuesday, January 19^th as part of the Orientation schedule at 11:00a.m on that day.

IMPORTANT: Remember, if you are or have been enrolled in any academic coursework (AP, IB, college), you must submit official copies of any transcripts, including current semester grades to the Office of Admissions upon completiong of the work. If you don’t, you will delay the processing of your credit evaluation, financial aid and even class registration, so make sure to submit them as soon as they’re ready!

Welcome to Purchase everyone! We’ll see you soon!

 

School of the Arts

Conservatory of Music

 (multiple NOA award winning)

 Purchase Opera

Presents

Amahl &

The Night Visitors

by Giancarlo Menotti

It tells the simple tale of a poor crippled boy and his mother who live among the shepherds.  One night, three kings, on their way to pay homage to a newborn child, stop for shelter at the crude dwelling where Amahl and his mother live.  Even in their extreme lack, Amahl and his mother gladly share what little they have.  

In this production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors”, there has been no attempt made to reproduce a specific time period or event. This story contains values reaching far beyond the ideas of a single time or set of beliefs.  It is, after all, through the story-telling devices of the ancients that our present sense of tradition and family exists so strongly.  What is more important than any setting or period, is the story’s message of values and conditions which are universal.  Poverty and love, the search for spiritual identity, sacrifice, healing and their resultant rites of passage will always exist.  Myths and stories are told to remind us to be thankful for the grace that comes to us at the turning of every corner.

 December 9, 10 & 11, 2009 – 10:30am

                December 11, 2009 – 7:00pm

 Conservatory of Music: Recital Hall

Tickets are $5 for students under 16 ; $15 for adults.

(chaperones free with groups over 50)

 

Purchase students are always ahead of the curve when it comes to chipping in and turning what some might see as just a problem to be lived with into an opportunity for creative expression and community uplift.   Here’s another instance of our students’ pro-activity and ingenuity in the face of adversity. As you may know, Purchase is undergoing a multimillion dollar renovation and beautification project of our main campus plaza deck. This project is being carried out in phases with the first phase currently underway and this area of the plaza deck has been cordoned off by not-so-attractive green clothed fencing for safety as the work is done. Well, understandably, our students were not too thrilled with the prospect of looking at an ugly old fence every day. So what do they do? They turn that fence into art! As reported in the Purchase Independent, “In order to remedy unsightliness caused by the construction (which is projected to end in 2010) students have taken part in a community art project called “Art on the Fence.” That’s so Purchase. We love it! Kudos to senior Kristina Colby for getting this off the ground! The Independent article goes on to say, “Colby’s plan allotted for 98 plywood canvases to be decorated by volunteer students and hung on the fencing between Campus Center North and the Natural Sciences Building, as an outdoor art show.”

As further noted in the Independent, Provost Damian Fernandez helped the students spear head the project by facilitating a meeting with administration that eventually led to the PSGA’s approval of the program. President Thomas Schwarz is helping to fund the project with a stipend and Professor Eric Wildrick (Sculpture) is serving as the project’s faculty advisor. In true Purchase Think Wide Open spirit, the students are from a variety of majors, not just Art+Design, and are coming together to collaborate on a public art project the whole campus can enjoy.   Good luck with the project everyone. Can’t wait to see the outcome!

The National Portfolio Day at Purchase College is open to all students interested in pursuing art or design at the undergraduate level. Please visit the National Portfolio Day website at www.portfolioday.net for more information on the organization.

PRE-REVIEW INFORMATION SESSIONS
9am          Art+Design Facilities Tour
                  Campus Tour

10am       Art+Design Facilities Tour
                  Campus Tour
                  Q&A Session with Admissions and the School of Art+Design
                  Financial Aid Information Table

11am       Art+Design Facilities Tour
                  Campus Tour
                  Finance Your Education Panel Discussion and Q&A

REGISTRATION will begin at 8:30am in the Lower Lobby of the Performing Arts Center. Follow the signs as you come to campus and after parking you will be directed to the registartion tables.

La Americana

Wednesday, October 14
4:00pm, Humanities Theatre

La Americana is an intimate documentary following an undocumented
immigrant’s journey from Bolivia to New York City and back, as she
struggles to save the life of her ailing daughter.  Her unforgettable story
is woven into the current immigration crisis in the United States, putting
a human face on this timely and controversial issue. 

Writtten/Directed/Produced/Filmed by SUNY Purchase
Alumni Nicholas Bruckman and Jesse Thomas, who will be
in attendance for discussions before and after the show.�
Sponsored by the Office of Student Life & Community Partnerships

THE ROCKY HORROR PURCHASE SHOW

That’s Right………It’s Back!!!!!

The Pepsico Theatre
In The Performing Arts Center

October 30th At 8:00 p.m
October 31st At 8:00 p.m

Please enter using the lower lobby
doors near the box office TICKET INFORMATION
Student Price — $10.00
General Admission — $12.00

!!!!Come In Costume!!!!
There will be a Costume Contest
before each Show.

RENOVATION OF PURCHASE COLLEGE PLAZA – NEW LANDSCAPING AND INFRASTRUCTURE

KICKOFF CEREMONY AUGUST 18 AT 11 AM

A new look for the Purchase College campus: The central plaza of Purchase College will undergo a major renovationthis year to create a more sustainable campus through energy efficiency, innovation and green technology. 

A kickoff ceremony to officially launch the project will take place on August 18 at 11 AM.  President Thomas Schwarz will be joined by officials from the New York State Construction Fund.

“We are excited about this transformation of the plaza.  It is the first major overhaul of this outdoor space since the campus was constructed some 40 years ago,” said Thomas J. Schwarz, President of Purchase College

“The entire plaza will be replaced,” he said. “We will remove the austere brown brick walkways over the plaza deck and install more plantings in raised beds and add new trees. There will be informal seating areas where students can study or meet informally and where our faculty, staff, and visitors can enjoy an environmentally attractive environment.” 

“The restoration will have long term benefits for our campus infrastructure,” he added.  “It will repair the failed drainage and waterproofing systems and create a leak free environment within our buildings.  It is in keeping with our Sustainable Building policy,”said President Schwarz.  The President signed the American College & University President’s Climate Commitment in 2007. 

The renovation will have café seating areas on the plaza adjacent to food service areas.  Other seating will be near entrances to academic buildings along new paths.  Hammocks (a Purchase tradition) will be placed strategically for lounging beneath the trees.  New reflective lights will be located along main walkways and at entrances to buildings.  Light columns will illuminate areas below the tree canopy and the seating areas. 

New building signs made of precast concrete will identify each building and be incorporated into the landscape opposite entrances to  academic buildings. 

In describing the project Christopher Gavlick, director of Capital Facilities Planning said, “The Great Court was originally conceived by campus planners as an area in which the academic buildings were centered around the Library and Bookstore buildings and linked by a covered walkway that defines the plaza.  Each building was surrounded by a series of open spaces and pedestrian streets which reinforced the buildings connection to the plaza. ” 

“Portions of the plaza” he explained, “are over occupied spaces which serve as offices, studios, labs, and mechanical rooms, making it a de facto roof as well. The plaza deck and drainage renovations will restore the area as the campus center for student activity and academic life as originally envisioned by master architect Edward Larrabee Barnes.” 

“The existing plaza deck waterproofing, drainage system, and pavement had reached the end of their serviceable life and needed to be replaced.  The waterproofing was breached in numerous locations and the drain system was clogged and ineffective.  Complete replacement of the plaza deck assembly, drainage piping and waterproofing system was required to restore the plaza to a fully functioning roof deck system,” said Gavlick.   

Purchase College is using this as an opportunity to evaluate the use of landscaped areas to reduce the amount of overall impervious pavement and to make an investment in green wet weather infrastructure. According to Gavlick, “this will serve three purposes: one, reduce the amount of existing surface runoff; two, the additional landscaped areas will slow the infiltration rate of rainwater, thereby reducing the demand on the existing drainage system; and third, to act as a bio-filter improving the water quality runoff conveyed to the existing storm system.” 

The project is part of a larger Purchase College initiative to create a more sustainable campus.The storm water runoff will be reduced and the water quality will be improved by the introduction of new planted areas.  Plants will include a variety of native and adapted trees, shrubs, grasses and ground cover planted within soils specifically engineered to promote infiltration and plant health.

Plaza renovations also include several environmentally centered initiatives and green design objectives.  About 4,000 linear feet of existing granite paving will be re-used as curbing around the perimeter of the new planting beds.  Four new pavement colors, which are lighter and more reflective in tone, will be introduced to complement the granite curbing. The new design will reduce the amount of pavement by 25% and increase the thermal properties for the occupied spaces below the plaza.  The improved drainage and increase in planting beds will create a water quality and runoff mitigation benefit by filtering the rain water through the planting beds and delay release into the existing storm system.  The landscape will increase by two-thirds, from the current 74,943 square feet to 126,025 square feet.  In addition, the new planting areas and lighter colored pavement will reduce the current heat island effect.      

The work is scheduled for completion by August 2012. 

Credits:

 Lead Agency: State University Construction Fund 

Project Management: Purchase College Office of Capital Facilities Planning 

Architect: San Fanandre Justin Architects PC, New York, NY

Landscape Architect: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects, New York 

Engineers: AMEC LLC, New York, NY 

Surveyors: Chazen Engineering, Poughkeepsie, NY 

General Contractors: MPCC Construction Corp, New Rochelle, NY

As long as the SAT, and its cousin the ACT, have been around, students, parents and educators have asked the question: are they good or bad tests? Well, as reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education, two professors of Journalism recently decided to retake the tests and let us know. Of course, being good professors, they disagree on the answer. One says yes, it is a worthwhile test, and the other says, no way is it a good test. So who is right?

Well, you could say they are both right to some degree. There are good things and bad things about these standardized tests. Hence, the debate about their use in college admissions and the changes in how some colleges use the tests in their admissions processes. But on the whole, the SAT is still considered to be one reasonably good predictor of a given student’s potential to succeed in college level coursework. It is not the only predictor, and that is the important thing to remember here: the SAT, like any other part of the application, is only one piece of the larger puzzle that makes up a whole student application. Yes, it’s a very important part of the puzzle, and many schools still don’t consider the puzzle complete without it. But many schools, like Purchase, employ a holistic approach to admissions that takes into account everything from overall academic record and a writing sample to special talents and letters of recommendation to volunteer and extracurricular activities. And admission programs like the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and Purchase’s own Merit Access Program (MAP) provide “access, academic support, and [in the case of EOP] financial aid to students who show promise for mastering college-level work, but who may otherwise not be admitted” because of lower SAT scores.

Yes, in the end, colleges are institutions of academic learning, and we all want to know that our students are academically prepared to handle the rigors of a college education. The SAT and ACT are still considered good measuring tools to gauge this piece of the applicant puzzle and many schools, including Purchase, will continue to consider them integral to the admission process. We also say let the great debate over standardized testing rage on, for it is healthy and necessary and, eventually, it just may lead to sharper, more refined tools for gauging a potential student’s readiness to succeed in college.