Agriculture's role in advanced manufacturing is the featured topic for this year's SUNYIT convocation address on August 29. The speaker will be Christopher L. Nyberg, dean of the school of agriculture, sustainability, business and entrepreneurship at Morrisville State College.

"We’re pleased to have Dr. Nyberg as our convocation speaker this year, especially because Morrisville is a partner in our NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program award," said William W. Durgin, provost. "The SUNY Manufacturing Alliance for Research and Technology Transfer—SMART—is the SUNYIT-led initiative that was awarded $15 million, thanks to Governor Cuomo’s leadership and Chancellor Zimpher’s support. Morrisville’s focus as a SMART partner will be agriculture as a manufacturing process."

Specifically, Durgin said, hops production as an advanced manufacturing process will be developed with the goal of reestablishing it as a foundational economic industry in New York State, which was once a leader in the cultivation and production of this increasingly important cash crop. Convocation, the ceremonial start of the new academic year, will be held Thursday, August 29, starting at noon in the Student Center multipurpose room. 

SUNYIT, the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome, is New York's public polytechnic, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in technology and professional studies. Its academic offerings in technology, including engineering, cybersecurity, computer science, and the engineering technologies, and its programs in professional studies, including business, communication, and nursing, are complemented by athletics, recreational, cultural and campus life programs, events and activities. Founded in 1966, SUNYIT is a unique high-tech learning environment on hundreds of acres, offering degree programs online as well as on campus. The SUNYIT family of alumni now numbers 25,000.