Momentum Defines SUNY Cortland
You can’t miss the momentum that’s everywhere on the SUNY Cortland campus. You’ll find an active student body involved in research projects, clubs and organizations. And you’ll definitely feel the energy and spirit of the crowds who cheer on our Red Dragon athletic teams.
Our dedicated faculty love to teach and collaborate with students on everything from scholarly pursuits to community service activities. Our enthusiastic staff stands ready to assist students with academic support, residence life, events and administrative issues, among others.
Each year, our devoted alumni return to campus to participate in programs designed to connect them with current students. They also come back for reunions, athletic events, and to be honored by the College.
The momentum is in the air. You can feel it!
Uniquely SUNY Cortland
The inspiration to be a champion in every aspect of life — that’s the value of the experiences and education at SUNY Cortland. It’s what makes us unique as a college; it’s what contributes to our success in the classroom, on the field and in the wide range of careers our students choose.
Quality of Student Life
At SUNY Cortland, our students can make plenty of new friends and engage in enjoyable activities, including clubs, organizations and sports from intercollegiate athletics teams to intramurals or recreation. With our wealth of service projects and comfortable, safe campus living, it’s easy to see how our active and fulfilling community life supports students’ well-being.
Champion
Outstanding academic programs, award-winning athletics and exceptional experiential learning opportunities combine at SUNY Cortland to create champions in the classroom, in athletic competitions, in serving the community, preparing for professions and creating meaningful lives.
Teacher Education
Our teacher education program prides itself on a 99 percent pass rate for assessment tests, as well as options for certification in nearly every subject area imaginable. Students at SUNY Cortland benefit from extensive teacher observation and early field experiences and enjoy our brand new Education Building, which houses a state-of-the-art child care center. After all, we offer the largest nationally accredited program on the East Coast.
Hands-On Learning
Opportunities abound in every major to apply knowledge and explore possible career choices. Internships, co-ops, volunteer options, student-teaching placements, field trips, study-abroad and international programs, research collaborations with professors and environmental fieldwork provide SUNY Cortland students with exceptional experiences that build professional skills.
Athletic Excellence
Twenty-three national championships in eight different sports. That says it all. Success for SUNY Cortland’s 25 Red Dragon intercollegiate athletic teams for men and women shows up in multiple national team championships and nearly 100 individual national titles — at least one each year since 1986. Our winning momentum continues!
We Are Red Dragons
It was 1933, and the college we know today as SUNY Cortland needed a better nickname.
Founded in 1868 as Cortland Normal School, a school for teachers, its prevailing moniker—the “Normals”—didn’t seem appropriate for a college with an abnormally impressive football team riding a 15-game unbeaten streak, outscoring opponents 165 to 15 in the process.
So when a team manager, inspired by the flying-red-horse trademark adorning Mobil gas stations, suggested “Red Dragons,” it stuck. The rest, as they say, is history.
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