An Interview With President Cardelle

Lara Murray-Sterzel, Editor-In-Chief

SUNY Oneonta’s President Alberto Cardelle has been leading our school for almost two and half years. A man who kept Oneonta safe and running during its first year back since the COVID outbreak. Since his arrival President Cardelle has developed collaborative projects, new community websites, new internship opportunities, and more. President Cardelle has also valued students’ feedback and inputs when it involves a decision at our school becoming finalized. 

Last month President Cardelle agreed to an interview by The State Times to share his experiences as president, his observations about our campus, and what he’s learned from the Oneonta community.   

Murray-Sterzel: You’ve been at Oneonta for a long time now, have you bonded with the community since?

Cardelle: Yes. I definitely feel very much a part of the community already. I belong to three different boards and different organizations within the community. We are active in community events. I work closely with the mayor and the county government. I definitely, at a personal level, feel connected to the community. One of the initiatives I wanted to do, as soon as I started, was to connect the campus to the community.

Murray-Sterzel: Having been around campus and seen so much activity, what do you find inspires students and faculty to be driven?

Cardelle: I think it’s the notion that this institution has been here for a long time. In the Fall, we will be celebrating 135 years as an educational institution. We have been educating students who have had incredible impact across the state and across the country. It’s been a very important source of pride and economic development for the community of Oneonta. 

Murray-Sterzel: Have you collaborated or partnered with any of the school’s departments in participation of their extracurriculars?

Cardelle: I try to attend as many of the conferences, student-based conferences, or student club activities as they offer on campus. I’m a firm believer that these efforts and projects should really come from the ground up. I’m hoping we continue to work on that.

Murray-Sterzel: What has become the best part of your job?

Cardelle: I love graduation! I get to celebrate with the students and families their achievements in a very special way.  

Murray-Sterzel: You decided last year not to hold classes between 3 and 4 pm MWF. What were the results from that decision? 

Cardelle: When I first arrived here there was a lot of discussion of “we never have time to come together as a campus”. Student groups always had to find different times to meet. We looked at the time frame with the fewest amount of courses scheduled and decided that between 3 and 4 pm worked. I know this has impacted certain departments but it has begun to help us to communicate and feel much more like a campus.

Murray-Sterzel: What do you find makes Oneonta a special place?

Cardelle: Out of all the universities I have worked at, I’ve noticed two things very different here at Oneonta. I’ve noticed most of the students like to wear SUNY Oneonta gear. That tells me something about the great sense of pride that student’s have about their school. The other is I’ve also noticed a very strong, supportive relationship between students and faculty on campus. I don’t know if it’s because we are a smaller campus which helps us form a strong bonds, but without a doubt there’s a sense of family here on campus that I have not had seen in my other campuses. 

Murray-Sterzel: What are your plans for this semester? 

Cardelle: Our big goal for this semester is to wrap up our first phase of our strategic planning. We’re not doing long-term strategic planning, we’re doing short-term strategic planning. It will be a two-year plan that we hope will get approved and passed. That will be a lot of our focus, so we know where to move toward in the future.