Report to the Community 2025

Letter from the President

This was a year of learning and growing at Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3), complete with the joy and struggle that come from success and challenges. This year of 2024-25 saw improvements in many areas, including a robust continuation of the enrollment growth we have experienced in recent years. We are constantly looking for new ways to better serve our students and our community in an ever-changing environment, and I feel that we were successful on both fronts this  year.

As always, I am proud of the work done at TC3, with credit to our entire campus community, leadership from the Board of Trustees, and the support from SUNY, New York State, Tompkins and Cortland Counties, and private donors. Compiling this report reminds me of all we have accomplished, and re-energizes me as we move forward, continuing to do the important work of serving our students and the community.

Sincerely, 

Amy Kremenek, DM, MPA
President

TC3 Board of Trustees

With fiscal support from the SUNY Transformation Fund, we expanded our nursing degree evening program by ten seats. Originally created by local healthcare partners Guthrie Cortland Medical Center and Cayuga Medical Center, this is a particularly valuable option for adult learners in the  region.

In response to local, regional, and national labor market data, we created a new Health Sciences transfer degree program. Students will take foundational courses in biology, chemistry, psychology and more to prepare for advanced study in related healthcare fields. Articulations are already in place for TC3 graduates to continue their education at top schools in New York State, including SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY Cortland.

Overall enrollment in 2024-25 was up 7.1% from 2023-24, driven in part by a substantial (8.3%) increase in part-time enrollment. Adult students (25+ years old) showed the biggest increase among core enrollment. This marked the second consecutive year of an overall enrollment increase.

Working with many generous donors in the community that share in our commitment to help students realize their educational dreams, the TC3 Foundation awarded financial support to 300+ students, totaling over $270,000 in student scholarships, grants, and emergency needs funding.

This year we announced SUNY Advancing Success in Associate Pathways (ASAP), which helps students maintain academic momentum to graduate on time and provides academic and financial support to remove barriers to their education. Our first cohort of 150 ASAP students began in Fall 2025.

We annouced SUNY Reconnect this year as well, which allows adults age 25-55 to earn their first associate degree in a high-demand field, with tuition, fees, books, and supplies fully covered after financial aid. In its first year, 200 adults enrolled in the program at TC3.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. visited the TC3 Farm to promote SUNY Reconnect. During his visit, Chancellor King emphasized our sustainable farming and food system program, which is one of our eligible degree programs under SUNY Reconnect.

We are among four SUNY community colleges entering the Achieving the Dream (ATD) network in 2025. ATD is a national consortium of community colleges focused on student success through innovation, insights, network and institutional transformation. It’s guided by a Community Vibrancy Framework designed to connect college access and credential attainment to economic mobility and community vibrancy. This work is partially funded by ATD and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott through a grant.

Our Empire State Service Corps program added eight students in Spring 2025. These student leaders made essential Health and Wellness services more accessible and approachable, while also fostering leadership skills and community engagement among student staff. This strategic use of the Empire State Service Corps has enabled Health and Wellness Services to expand its impact while fostering a culture of peer connection across campus.

The College launched a new institutional website and local admissions application. The updated application includes predictive questions to help identify student success factors, enabling more targeted and proactive outreach and support services.

Our Collegiate Recovery Program, which supports anyone in the college community in recovery from or impacted by substance abuse, experienced a 56% increase in the number of students engaged with the program over the previous year. Students have access to 1-on-1 meetings with a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA), group AA, NA, Al-Anon, and Harm Reduction meetings. In collaboration with Access to Independence of Cortland County, the program was awarded $36,766 annually for three years from the Cortland County Opioid Settlement Fund, providing critical resources for staffing and programming.

CollegeNow, our concurrent enrollment program, remains a vibrant asset for our community by collaborating with our high schools. In 2024-25, 5,660 high school-aged students earned 44,682 college credits through CollegeNow, including 117 high school seniors who completed an associate degree concurrent to their high school degree. Including all students in CollegeNow who graduated high school in 2025, they did so having earned an average of 14 TC3 credits.

TC3 has partnered with Cortland City School District to launch a new Smart Scholars Early College High School that has a focus on career pathways, including computer technology. Our Early College partners now include: Cortland City School District, Groton Central School District, and Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga (TST) BOCES P-Tech.

We expanded our 9-year partnership with TST BOCES and its P-TECH Academy. Students now have three new options for pathways during their six years in the program: Engineering Science, Computer Science, and Business Administration. All pathways lead to earning an associate degree in high-demand fields from TC3 along with their high school diploma.

We used a NY SWIMS grant to provide free learn-to-swim lessons to more than 85 children in the community, including many who otherwise would not have been able to afford the life-saving education. It also allowed 25 residents to became certified lifeguards to serve in aquatic facilities around the community.

The Village of Dryden was successful in achieving a $4.5 million Downtown Revitalization Grant from New York State. TC3 was a key supporter of this effort during the drafting and promoting of the grant proposal, including serving as a member of the presentation team that ultimately resulted in a successful award.

We have partnered with SUNY Cortland to turn the former TC3 Extension Center in downtown Cortland into a learning space that supports local economic development and entrepreneurs. The SUNY Cortland Entrepreneurship Center will be a facility for programs and coursework that benefit local businesses, non-profit organizations, and student start-up initiatives.

Frank Kruppa of Dryden joined the Tompkins Cortland Community College Board of Trustees as an appointment by the Tompkins County Legislature. Kruppa replaces Arthur Kuckes, whose term expired and is now a Trustee Emeritus. In addition, Sue Dale-Hall of Ithaca was reappointed to the Board by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul. Dale-Hall originally joined the board in 2022.

TC3 employees Merryn Clay and Sarah Dockstater were nominated for the 2025-26 New York State Community College Leadership Academy. The yearlong program provides participants with foundational understanding of critical student success and change management concepts. Clay, TC3’s associate dean of academic affairs, and Dockstater, the director of financial aid, are part of the third cohort of the Leadership Academy.

Thanks to the generosity of the Ithaca Murals Parnternship, “Panthers Take on the World,” a mural completed by Ithaca artist Margalo Guo, was installed in our Cafeteria. The Sensory Space also has a new mural, which was completed as a class project for Instructor Megan VanKanegan’s Painting I and II classes.

We unveiled a new dedicated area designed to support neurodiverse students. The Sensory Space provides a calm, welcoming environment where students can relax, study, and feel safe. Located in the Baker Commons, it features sensory-friendly elements like calming lighting, soothing sounds, fidget tools, and other resources aimed at reducing anxiety and fostering productivity. The space became reality in part thanks to a gift  from the Mental Health Association for Cortland County and expert advice from Racker and SUNY Cortland.

Our Baker Center for Learning (BCL) received the highest level of certification by the internationally recognized College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA). This certification recognizes the BCL for developing a tutoring program that meets the CRLA Level 3 standards for tutor selection, training, service, and evaluation. Level 3 certification is reached by a small percentage of all tutoring centers and is reserved for programs that have demonstrated excellence in developing, designing, and implementing strong tutor-training procedures.

We hosted the Micron Regional Summer Chip Camp, welcoming 40+ local students to campus. The camp, sponsored by Micron, Onondaga-Cortland-Madison (OCM) BOCES, and TC3, featured a full immersion into hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math activities centered on the fascinating world of semiconductor manufacturing and engineering. In addition to sessions led by TC3 faculty, the camp welcomed local businesses to campus for a STEM Expo that featured different entertaining experiments and activities.

In partnership with SUNY Upstate Medical University and Tompkins County, we hosted an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course taught by instructors from SUNY Upstate Medical University. Demand is high in the region for these entry-level healthcare providers that specialize in pre-hospital emergencies.

Three graduates of TC3 were presented the Distinguished Alumni Award at the College’s commencement ceremony on May 21, 2025. Julie Matijas (Class of 2000), Mame Ndiaye (Class of 2015), and Patricia Schaap (Class of 2004), were recognized for excelling in their professional life and in service to the community.

TC3 and Cornell University reached a new articulation agreement that provides our graduates a direct transfer path to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at Cornell. Once students complete the Sustainable Farming and Food Systems program at TC3, they will receive priority consideration for transfer admission to CALS. New agreements were also signed this year with the College of Professional Studies at Syracuse University and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

TC3 student Haiyan Li was named recipient of the Phi Theta Kappa All-New York Academic Award, an honor bestowed on a small percentage of members of the international honor society. A nursing student from Ithaca, Li was on the Dean’s List multiple semesters and received the President’s Citation for excellence in the classroom.

Kelly Tobin (Class of 2001) received the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award for Civic Contribution from NYCCT for her service as executive director of the YWCA of Cortland. Linda Bruno won the Friend of Community College Award for her work with TC3’s concurrent enrollment program, promoting early college access. Cayuga Medical Center received the Edward J. Pawenski Business/Industry Partnership Award for over 30 years of meaningful
collaboration with TC3, including providing clinical experiences for nursing students.

Our literary journal Ke’Lab earned national recognition from the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The designation honors Ke’Lab as one of the best student-produced publications in the country. Ke’Lab was first published in 2018, a collaboration between TC3’s art and creative writing programs.