State University of New York at Geneseo - The Campus

The Campus

SUNY Geneseo is located on the east side of the Genesee Valley. Of the approximately 5,000 full-time residents in Geneseo, some 70% work at, or are in some way affiliated with the College, making Geneseo a "college town."

The Campus is divided between the Academic Quad, "North Side" and "South Side," with all academic buildings contained within the Academic Quad. South Side has five residence halls and a dining hall. The South Side complex was designed by architect Edgar Tafel, one-time apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright. Tafel also designed the Brodie Building, home of the School of the Arts on the Academic Quad. Additionally, 44 on campus townhouses, known as Saratoga Terrace, provide a connective corridor between South Side and the Academic Quad. The North Side contains eleven residence halls, two dining halls and the Lauderdale Health Center. The Academic Quad comprising the Upper and Lower Campuses contains all academic buildings, the College Union, Merritt Athletic Center, Wadsworth Auditorium and the Milne Library that provides amazing views of the Genesee valley.

In 2003, the college began the largest single capital improvement project in the history of the SUNY system. The Integrated Science Facility (pictured right) is a 105,000-square-foot (9,800 m2), $32 million building equipped with a nuclear accelerator. The Center opened in the Spring of 2007. On the new building's opening, Greene Hall (a science building constructed in 1970) was shut down and completely renovated at a cost of $20 million.

One of the main attractions of SUNY Geneseo's campus beside the views of the valley is the architecture of many of the older buildings. The James B. Welles building was constructed in 1932 and is the oldest building on campus with arches, gables, and broad-leaf collegiate ivy draping its stone and brick facade. Formerly known as the Winfield Holcomb School, it served as the laboratory school for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. It now houses the departments of Philosophy, Political Science, Foreign Language, and English. The James V. Sturges building is also one of the oldest buildings on campus.

At the far end of the South Village Residences, the college maintains the 20-acre (81,000 m2) Spencer J. Roemer Arboretum wherein are preserved "more than 70 species of trees, shrubs and wildflowers, including a magnificent group of oak trees which are more than 200 years old, and several black walnut trees estimated to be over 100 years old." The arboretum is used for both teaching and recreation. It also contains a gazebo and the college's memorial to four alumni who died in the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, a gift left behind by the Class of 2002 through the Senior Challenge program.

East of the Academic Quad up a slight hill is Geneseo's Main street that complements the quaint campus with a variety of shops, restaurants and bars that students frequent throughout the week. Beyond Main Street is the historic village of Geneseo marked by Victorian architecture, well-kept mansions, fraternity and sorority houses as well as several nineteenth-century churches.