By GREGORY ZELLER //
A state-of-the-art computer center will open at Farmingdale State College by 2025 – almost a full decade after the SUNY school began lobbying for such a facility.
Farmingdale State will receive an undisclosed amount of “construction funding” through Empire State Development’s Long Island Investment Fund, a $350 million war chest focused on large-scale, transformative regional projects, announced this summer by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The funding is earmarked for the college’s new Center for Computer Science and Information Technology Systems. Physical construction of the projected $75 million center is expected to begin in 2023, with the new, fully stocked building ready to rock by 2025.
That will be nine full years after Farmingdale State began actively advocating for a cutting-edge computer center. But better late than never, according to Farmingdale State College President John Nader, who thanked everyone but Santa Claus – Hochul, the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, the Empire State Development Corp. and other agencies – for consummating the college’s “longstanding vision of a transformative investment in Long Island’s digital future.”
John Nader: A long time coming.
“This is much more than a building project,” Nader said this week. “The Center for Computer Science and Information Technology Systems will serve Long Island’s high-technology workforce needs for many years to come.”
The center figures to be home base of FSC’s Division of Computing and will integrate “several closely related programs,” according to Nader, including courses covering programming, information-system design, digital security and geographic information systems, along with the college’s Technology Management graduate program. Farmingdale State is also working on a new Artificial Intelligence Management degree program which could be ready to launch as soon as next year.
The new center and its potential to address Long Island’s growing IT workforce needs have been endorsed by members of Long Island’s state delegation, the Long Island Federation of Labor and the Long Island Association, among others. It’s also been prioritized by the LIREDC, which Nader currently co-chairs alongside Bethpage Federal Credit Union Senior Vice President Linda Armyn.
The widespread support for the new center makes perfect sense, according to Nader, who was pushing for its creation long before he and Armyn took the LIREDC’s reins.
“The center … addresses key priorities of Gov. Hochul, the [State University of New York] and the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council,” Nader added. “The project will yield a growing supply of talented graduates and skilled professionals to serve the region’s tech sector.”
