Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at SUNY Chancellor King's 2023 State of the University Address

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered remarks at SUNY Chancellor John King's 2023 State of the University Address.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Rancelli, that was perfect. You did a great job and I'm sure all your fellow alumni from SUNY Orange are very proud of you as we all are here today.

I am so happy to be here. We went through a search to find an individual who would lead this institution with the heart and compassion, the experience, that is required. And so, this is a joyful day for me as the leader of this state to be able to be part of a presentation when you'll hear the person you really all came to hear, which is our Chancellor John King, in a few moments. So congratulations to John King

As someone who spends most of my week away from my life's partner, I understand the sacrifices that families go through. I want to give a shout out to Melissa and daughter Amina, his wife and daughter, and another daughter not with us today. But it is a sacrifice for families, and I want to thank the family for being the source of support for our Chancellor as well and having such belief in what he does as well. So, thank you.

Our chair, Merryl Tisch. Merryl, are you here? I don't see Merryl. Merryl, where are you? Merryl, how are you? Thank you for this too, all you do, and for really justpushing us to the highest levels. And that's why I'm so proud with your tenure as our SUNY Board Chair, we really have achieved new heights. And I think it does come down to individuals, it comes down to leadership. And Merrill, we just want tokeep you here forever and ever because you're doing an incredible job. Let's give another round of applause to Merryl Tisch.

And to and to all of our trustees who are joined here today, you're doing an exceptional job. We're joined by our Commissioner of Education, Dr. Betty Rosa. Let's say hello to Betty Rosa. Commissioner Rosa. Thank you for all you do. That is one tough job. I want to thank you for stepping up.

I've served at every level of government. You may know this - town, county, federal, state. The one I'm most afraid of is school board. I've not done school board yet, so to all of our educators - that's the one I probably just don't have the guts for, to do a school board level. But thank you for all you do in leading our children's education in the future as well.

Roberta Reardon, our Commissioner of Labor is here. Roberta Reardon. Thank you, thank you for your leadership. Our Chair of the Higher Education Committee, Pat Fahy is here. Where's Pat?

And to all the — there's many elected leaders here from the Assembly and the Senate. I was just with the two leaders who are wrapping up the session here. But I want to thank them for also being part of this journey that we're all on together to - during our time and our positions, the gift we've been given to be able to serve the people also means we're serving not just the people today, but the next generation. And the work that we do collectively to invest in our education for our children is one of the most important things we can do as elected leaders - supportprogramming, support our communities that have not been invested in, individuals who need our support. So to all of our elected leaders here today, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

You know, we talk about education. This is the right place to talk about it. I can never think about education - especially higher education - think about how it transformed my own family. I've proudly spoken of the fact that I'm the granddaughter of very poor Irish immigrants who found a life in Buffalo making steel at the steel plant - my grandpa worked there, my dad worked at the steel plant.

But what changed the trajectory that my family was on was my father decided that while he made steel by day, he would get a college degree at night. And so, that work with a new baby and living in a trailer - and I was baby number two - once he'd had that degree, he could move up in the ranks and ultimately join a small tech company. And two generations, a generation later, our family is in a very different place.

So, I saw the people who were left behind in the trailer park because I still visit that neighborhood. I still go to the diner there. The reminder of people who did not have the opportunity to have that education to unlock their own personal destinies. That is the power of higher education built on a strong pre-K through 12 education - the foundation, the building blocks to set people off on a very different outcome than they might have had given their birth circumstances or the zip code they're born into.

That is why to my core, I believe in what education can do for families. SUNY campuses are the engines of social mobility. It unlocks the doors, whether you're starting off at a community college, you're going for higher education, going for an advanced degree. We have it all right here. And we have the very best. And I'm going to make sure that we continue to support the individuals who have the stories that we're so proud of, the graduates you heard from here today. And so many others who've taken advantage of the EOP program as well.

Arthur Eve, legislator from Buffalo - I was an intern for the Assembly in Buffalo back when he worked on this. I worked with his family. I knew how important this was to him. And so it's proud to me that in downtown Buffalo, where I live when I'm not here, there is a big sign, the Arthur O. Eve Equal Opportunity Center, right in the heart of a community that had been long forgotten. So, all these years later, generations later, from my time as an Assembly intern to where I'm now, I've seen the transformation of so many lives through this program as well. This is a program that we must continue investing in and making those opportunities available for everyone.

Last year, in my very first address as Governor, I outlined a very bold plan for the transformation of SUNY. This is an entity, an institution, that was underinvested in for decades, taken for granted. The people who worked so hard there, particularly our university presidents, our college presidents, just felt that they were given a little bit of short shrift here. Am I speaking the truth here? Yeah, I know, I can tell. But I needed to fix that. If we were going to once again attain the premier status of our nation's greatest higher educational institution, we had to start changing the whole dynamic around SUNY, believing again. Believing in the power of our presidents, first of all.

And I want to thank all the presidents who are here today. I have seen you in action day after day as I come to campuses. Literally yesterday, I was in Buffalo with Satish Tripathi, and I want to thank him for being my hometown SUNY - right there, Satish. He welcomed us as we launched our first ever community conversation about how we're going to spend $4 billion of our Bond Act on protecting the environment, opening up the doors of SUNY for us.

I have been to so many of our institutions. But not just as Governor, not just as elected official, but as a mom. My son is the proud graduate of SUNY Geneseo, and he's doing very well, everybody. And he has the most adorable little one-year-old, too. But that's another story. I'll show you pictures later. My husband is a graduate of University at Buffalo Law School, ultimately became Barack Obama's United States Attorney with that degree in our country, protecting our community against crime and terrorists.

I'm not going to name all your campuses, but from Long Island to the Southern Tier, to the North Country, to Capital Region, to Mohawk Valley, to Central New York, to Finger Lakes, to Hudson Valley - did I forget anybody? What did I forget? I didn't forget New York City. Nobody ever forgets New York City. It is impossible to forget New York City.

But I've cherished this opportunity. And I want to thank our Chancellor for literally, physically going to all these campuses. It is not a small task. But what you have a chance to see firsthand is how unique they all are. They all have a special story, whether it's embracing the environment they're in, whether it's a rural area or a very densely populated area like New York City, didn't forget you again. But also how they lean into the strengths of the region. How, for example, what's going to happen in Central New York with Micron coming.

50,000 jobs that were literally heading to other states - and I'll name it because I'm proud of this - going to Texas, until we convince them that we could provide the highly educated workforce that they need for them to succeed. We told them this, we promised them this, and now we'll deliver on this. And this whole state is going to benefit from this, creating this whole industry building on the existing legacy businesses in the semiconductor manufacturing space.

But what they're doing is talking to people in our local schools, our school superintendents, investing in children's programs and pre-K programs, but also, they're looking to our educations of higher institutions, of higher learning. They need this. So, here we are leveraging the strength of our proximity to be able to deliver, everybody from engineers down to those entry level workers for one business. And this should give hope to everyone else who's been waiting a long time for our future to change. It has changed my friends. It has changed before our very eyes when companies like that who could go anywhere in the country are picking New York State because of our higher education. That was a huge selling point, and it is SUNY that is making that happen. Thank you. Thank you.

As we lift up our individual campuses, let them shine with their own strengths, give them the resources to invest once again in their buildings and their labs, and all the infrastructure that's required, giving that money right there. It's also investing in programs to help individuals. And I want to let you know that I'm not afraid to spend money in education. We have - Betty Rosa knows this - $34.5 billion. Thank you, legislators, for the highest investment ever, ever in pre-K through 12.

But I also want to make sure that we're investing in our capital projects, $1.4 billion for SUNY capital projects to stop the disinvestment, the neglect, the decline, and start rising up once again. That's what we're doing with that as well. Also, how about just operating funds? You've got to run the place. There you go. $163 million for operating funds. $75 million to spur workforce needs and transfer, and the local needs of the community. I think that's going to be important. But also hiring more diverse professors, faculty, staff, recruiting, breaking down barriers. And then giving more access to mental health and reproductive health services on our SUNY campuses. This is the place we take care of our students, give them whatever they need to thrive.

Also, I'm very excited about an enrollment expansion opportunity here. We, together and this gathering here today, we need to pull together and talk about how we can increase our enrollment - let people know the value of this. And it's not just necessarily traditional curriculum, it's about being creative enough to have stackable credentials, especially in our community colleges, so they can go to the jobs that are right in the neighborhood that are waiting for them and start themselves. And maybe have that job, and like my dad did, then get the advanced degree - a higher degree at night.

It can all work out, but we have to make sure people see the opportunities that they literally lay them out before them. I know our guidance counselors work hard, but I also want to make sure that we find a path that every high school student who graduates in our State has access to a college degree so, we can just say, "You are automatically enrolled." I would like to get to that point. Let them find the school that meets their needs because we're going to take care of our own New Yorkers. That is my commitment to all of you.

So, I've been making promises to the business community. I will deliver to them a world-class, highly educated group of individuals who are going to emerge as our nation's leaders. Your alumni. Your alumni, I'm talking about because I believe in the power of what you're doing every single day. But also, populations that have been historically underserved - they are now part of the majority, the opportunity that is given to so many people for generations. I want to lift everyone up and make sure no one is left behind.

So, college has to be affordable, it has to be accessible, and it has to be desirable. We make it desirable by leaning hard into our strengths, but also adapting to the needs of the community and what our students need. And our faculty are part of that as well - how we adapt our curriculum to the 21st century demands, of what the workforce demands of our residents.

So, this is an exciting time. I could not be more excited about SUNY's leadership right now, the time we're in, but also the individual who has been selected by our Trustees. Again, thank you Trustees. We have an individual who has so much experience that if I started reading this resume, we'd be here till tomorrow. So, look it up. You can look it up on Wikipedia, maybe Chat GPT, but you might want to double check it. Wherever you want to look. But I was so impressed because I've known John King a long time.

He did an exceptional job as our Commissioner of Education here. So he knows our State, he knows our values, he knows the premium we put on education and those building blocks that lead to higher education. But also, the fact that our President, Barack Obama, had confidence when he could select anybody he wanted in the entire country to be his head as Secretary of Education and the accolades of President Obama about this gentleman are extraordinary, calling him one of the finest educators in our land.

So, he has every level of experience. He's committed during that time to opening more access to education, focusing on community colleges, their unique value, but also focusing on workforce development. That's what he did as President Obama's right-hand person in education. The fact that we have him right here in this moment of time in the State of New York gives me great hope, great optimism. And ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce our SUNY Chancellor John King.