Introduction

In recent years, the economy of the Long Island region has been completely transformed. What had been, since the late 1940s, a base of a handful of large defense contractors such as the Grumman Corporation has changed to a large number of relatively small to medium sized high-technology corporations. Simultaneously, Farmingdale State University of New York has itself undergone a total change in its mission and the underlying academic culture. The college has evolved from a two-year agricultural and technical college to a four- year university college of technology with eighteen baccalaureate programs and twelve associate degree programs. Most of these programs are in the areas of applied sciences and technologies relevant to the current Long Island economy. Farmingdale State is located on Route 110 on the Nassau/Suffolk County border in NY, about 25 miles east of New York City. The area is a hub of high-tech industries on Long Island known as the “Route 110 Corridor.” The college is the home of the Broad Hollow Bioscience Park, which is viewed as the centerpiece for the many high-tech facilities found within the Route 110 Corridor.

As a four-year College of Technology within SUNY, one of the official goals at Farmingdale State is “to provide students with a broad academic foundation which includes an appreciation of the interrelationships among the applied sciences, technologies and society.”