04/17/2026
Kharmen Wingard M ’11 has been named the director of SUNY Cortland’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), an office that provides dedicated academic support and other services to promising students facing financial hardship.
Wingard brings more than 20 years of higher education experience to the role, including nearly 15 at SUNY Cortland. He most recently served as assistant director of EOP at the university since 2024. His earlier positions spanned athletics to undergraduate admissions, where he focused on the recruitment of underrepresented students.
Across the SUNY system, EOP provides educational and financial resources to undergraduates demonstrating strong academic and personal potential who may have missed out on a college education due to challenges outside of their control. Many of them are first-generation students and all must meet criteria associated with family income.
The program is known for helping to close achievement gaps with dedicated support, particularly through an intensive Summer Institute for incoming first-year students. SUNY Cortland currently enrolls 114 EOP scholars.
As director, Wingard will oversee a four-person staff that provides far-reaching services spanning academic support and tutoring, curriculum development, mentoring and career advising. He also will lead recruitment and outreach for the program.
In his most recent role as assistant director, Wingard helped shape initiatives leading to a 54% increase in first-year EOP enrollment over the past three years. He earned a $30,000 SUNY grant in 2025 to support EOP scholars enrolled in education-related majors. He also will join a new effort to boost participation and provide funding for students involved in high-impact practices.
Wingard served as a senior counselor in EOP from 2021 to 2024 before promoted to assistant director. He worked as a senior admissions advisor and coordinator of diversity recruitment in the university’s Admissions Office for seven years before that.
He joined the campus community in 2008 as an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team and assistant for athletic administration, where he tutored and advised student-athletes. Beyond Cortland, he previously served as an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team at Cornell University and as an admissions counselor at Daemen University.
Wingard earned a B.A. in social work from Daemen, an M.S. in student personnel administration from Buffalo State University and an M.S. in sport management from SUNY Cortland. He is currently pursuing an Ed.D. in educational theory and practice from Binghamton University.