For John Nader, leaving Farmingdale State College is ‘bittersweet’

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For John Nader, Monday marked his last day serving as the ninth president of Farmingdale State College (FSC), after an eight-year run. He spoke with Long Island Business News about both his tenure and future plans.

“It’s bittersweet,” Nader told LIBN, about stepping down from the presidency. “I have loved it – it’s been a great eight years. I had a list within a few months of starting [of what to accomplish], and we really have worked through that list, very diligently.”

Many of those items on the list will be “ongoing and need refreshing,” said Nader, who worked in the State University of New York system for 42 years.  But he feels good about handing the reins over to Robert Prezant, the college’s next president.

In June, SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. thanked Nader in a written statement “for his incredible career of service to the SUNY system. From his time as provost at SUNY Delhi, to his tenure serving as president of SUNY’s largest technology focused campus, President Nader has moved FSC forward in a positive direction and I strongly believe Dr. Prezant will build on the strong foundation laid by President Nader.”

Under Nader, FSC’s enrollment grew to nearly 10,000 students. The college also added more than 100 faculty and staff members to FSC’s roster.

In addition, Nader and his team secured five of the largest gifts in the college’s history, each more than $500,000. The gifts largely support student scholarship as well as fund professional development for faculty and new technologies at the college.

One of his proudest moments, Nader said, was securing $75 million through SUNY and the Long Island Investment Fund for a new computer science building.

Another highlight was “filling the Broad Hollow Bioscience Park. Estee Lauder has building one and they occupy it in its entirety. We worked for about three years on that initiative.”

His list of highlights also includes renaming a campus building to honor local civil rights pioneer Delores Quintyne in her lifetime.

Nader said he is proud of the graduates who go on to contribute to the region. “The vast majority of our graduates stay on Long Island,” he said, adding that “more than half” leave “with no student debt.” He credited “the success that we have had in fundraising particularly in the last few years.”

The college supports and assists undocumented students and those who have come “from really distressed school districts,” including through expanded programs and through thedream.us. “We have over 400 lawful, permanent resident students studying here. So, I am very proud that this is a highly inclusive institution.”

Nader also saw that the college “increased the number of scholarships by a few hundred and we’ve increased the minimum award by, at least a thousand dollars for all of our scholarships over the last few years, and we know that that has helped us retain students.”

Under Nader’s direction, the college implemented a student emergency fund to help students in need with tuition, housing and transportation. The college also fully funded an honors program.

Moving forward, Nader plans to return to Oneonta, where he owns a home, and his two kids live nearby. There, he will continue to work on his book covering part of the history of Oneonta. He will also mentor new college presidents and  conduct a study of SUNY’s college council system.

But Nader has grown fond of Long Island.

“We really have come to love the region, so I think people will see us on Long Island periodically,” he said.

“I hope people on Long Island really appreciate all that they have here,” Nader said. “It is a great place to live. I know the cost of living is very high, and that’s certainly a deterrent and is causing people to leave, but the quality of life here … the level of civic engagement across both counties is really something quite remarkable.”