Oneonta’s Other Colleges

USC Leases 2nd ‘Place To Be’ In City


By JIM KEVLIN
At no time in all but a very few working people’s lifetimes has the demand for retraining been greater, it can be argued.
USC is a case in point: For the first time in its 25-year history, the Utica School of Commerce is expanding its Oneonta operations, adding classroom space and offices at 12 South Main St. to supplement its facilities at 17 Elm.
“Given the opportunity to expand more, I’m sure we would,” Scott Williams, campus administrator (and great-grandson of founder Thomas Risinger), said the other day, strolling along a sunny Main Street between the two locations. Steady for years at 75-80 students, in recent months USC Oneonta has seen its enrollment rise to 100 in its two-year program of study.
In a city that hosts SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College, Williams emphasizes:  “We are NOT liberal arts.”  Instead, USC sends forth bookkeepers, administrative assistants and office managers who are “office ready.”
“The majority of students have internships before they graduate,” he said, “and any match that works out will lead to employment.”
As Williams describes it, USC’s goal – and its name – have remained the same since the school’s founding in 1896 at Utica’s Genesee and Bleecker streets “in response to an early demand for specialized training in commerce and finance.”
Founder Thomas Risinger’s son, William, joined his dad in 1904, then ran the school from 1919 to 1966.  At that point, the founder’s granddaughter, Eleanor, and husband Roger L. Williams assumed ownership. 
In 1976, Scott’s father, Phillip, took ownership into the fourth generation, partnering with John L. Crossley.  They are two members of USC’s 11-member Board of Trustees.
In 1985, when the State of New York gave USC degree-granting powers, the school opened campuses in Oneida and Canastota, as well as Oneonta.
“I have a list of them like this,” Scott Williams replied, stretching his hands apart, when asked about success stories he has witnessed.
He talked about one very, very shy “traditional student,” who came to USC out of high school.  Williams saw her come out of her shell during her two years, and she then recommended USC to her sister.
The second was a “non-traditional student,” who was “thrown to the wolves” after several years in a manufacturing job.  When that happens, “it’s scarey,” he said.  After a shakey start – particularly a fear of computers – she got it:  “Her GPA went up and up,” and she graduated on the Dean’s List.
“It’s validating,” Scott said.  “But it’s why we’re here.  If our students don’t go on to higher education or get a job” – 92 percent do – “we aren’t doing our job.”
While he’s been talking, he’s arrived at 12 South Main, which until recently housed Oneonta Taikwon Do, which moved down South Main to #55.  The space has been completely redone, painted and carpeted, and is bright and welcoming.  The front room is a classroom, where accounting is taught.  The back of the space houses offices and a conference room.
“Having two sites gives it more of a campus feel,” said Williams, a graduate of St. John Fisher College who is completing a master’s in higher education from Capella University.
One USC’s points of pride is active organizations, including a Student Association, a Service Club and a chapter of IAAP, the International Association of Administrative Professionals.
Students serve meals at The Lord’s Table, across Elm Street, participate in the annual American Heart Association and March of Dimes walks and runs, and raise money for the Ronald McDonald House in Albany.
“What we lack in a sports team or green grass we make up with the hearts of our students,” Williams said.

Judy Morris, Oneonta, teaches her Accounting I class at USC’s main Oneonta campus on Elm Street.  Her students are Rachel Fournier, Sidney (front row); Al Straubel, Oneonta, and Courtney TenEyck, Otego (second row), and Amy Dubben, Middlefield, Candice Hunter, Schenevus, and Alex Robinson, Constable (third row).