CUNY Master Plan 2012-2016

THE CUNY MASTER PLAN 2012-2016
in applied research with ties to industry will receive increased research funding from private companies,
and there will be greater involvement, donations, and investment by alumni in the University. Recruitment
of top-notch faculty will become easier as productive researchers, who are interested in commercializing
their inventions, will be attracted to CUNY. University-industry collaboration will also
encourage the creation of startup companies that will both generate a new source of revenue for CUNY
and have a positive impact on local economies. Faculty working with private companies will be able revitalize
career-oriented graduate programs and contribute to the development of new professional programs.
Opportunities for student involvement in internship and research programs in the private sector
will increase, thus enhancing CUNY’s ability to expand career prospects for its graduates, and consequently
increasing student recruitment and retention.
In its initial phase, the core function of the center will be as a business incubator for CUNY faculty—
offering its tenants a physical infrastructure, professional mentorship, opportunities for collaboration,
and a host of supportive and administrative services. The Center will have a CUNY-wide scope and will
embrace entrepreneurship in science and engineering as well as in non-science based companies. The
Center will initially occupy approximately 6,000-10,000 square feet at an external commercial site, and is
expected to house between 15-25 companies when fully operational.
This Center will integrate several existing University-wide services that facilitate entrepreneurship,
including technology transfer, intellectual property, and legal assistance, as well as research administration.
The CUNY Technology Commercialization Office will provide direct support on issues related to
technology transfer, agreements and contracts, and licensing to Center tenant companies. Such integration
of different functional domains is vital for creating an effective system capable of expediting legal
and financial transactions with investors, companies and the business community.
This initiative recognizes the need to establish a CUNY Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fund. This
fund will be used to attract external financial support for CUNY’s efforts in generating, sponsoring,
and/or incubating companies. Such a fund would provide an excellent mechanism for creating and developing
interest among alumni and other private investors. CUNY will leverage internal resources to set up
this fund and help raise external resources.
CUNY’s strength has always been in the talent and expertise of its faculty. In scaling up innovation and
entrepreneurship, CUNY will be broadening the University’s rich tradition of research that benefits the
colleges and the University, as well as the local and state economies.
Educating Teachers and Early Childhood Educators for New York
As is well known, CUNY occupies a historic place as a training-ground for New York’s teachers. Currently,
pressing questions are being raised on the quality of teacher education programs across the
nation. These challenges have been largely fueled by two issues: (1) persistent achievement gaps (disparities
in performance on achievement measures) across white and black students, wealthy and poor students,
and U.S. versus non-U.S. students (in terms of international comparisons); and (2) the fact that a
large percentage of students graduate from high school unprepared to do college-level work.
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