July 13, 2020

To the SUNY Poly Community:

I am writing to share with you that I am standing with our partners across higher education to denounce the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Department of Homeland Security decision that seeks to force international students at institutions throughout the nation, including at SUNY Poly, to return to their home countries if all of their coursework is to be online during the fall 2020 semester. This could significantly impact the lives of many students who have already had to navigate challenging travel situations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUNY Poly is continuing to deploy plans to resume in-person classes for the fall 2020 semester.  These plans prioritize the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff. At the same time, we are also striving to provide as much certainty as possible to those students who might be impacted by this recent decision.

While our International Student Services and other departments are currently reaching out to any student who could be impacted, we request that any international student whose classes potentially could be scheduled 100% online to contact your respective department for course registration for fall; a list of contacts follows on the next page. Please work closely with your respective academic department to make arrangements for supporting your educational opportunities at SUNY Poly.

We also want you to know that simultaneously, SUNY Poly leaders have been engaging in focused outreach efforts to make our Congressional leaders aware of the incredible challenges international students could now face.

While the decisions being made at the federal level evolve, know that we will continue to stand by you, our students.

Sincerely,

Dr. Grace Wang
Interim President
SUNY Polytechnic Institute


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Contacts by Department for Further Follow-Up

• Computer & Information Science – William “Amos” Confer, Chair, at conferw@sunypoly.edu
   
• Advanced Technology – Bradley Thiel, Adviser, at bthiel@sunypoly.edu
   
• Biology – Carlie Phipps, Chair, at Carlie.Phipps@sunypoly.edu
   
• Business Administration – Arthur Lu, Dean of College of Business Management, at lux@sunypoly.edu
  • Daniel Hebert, Adviser, at hebertd@sunypoly.edu
     
• Civil Engineering – Zhanjie Li, Civil Engineering Program Coordinator, at zhanjie.li@sunypoly.edu
   
• Electrical & Computer Engineering – Daniel Benincasa, Chair of Engineering Department at benincd@sunypoly.edu
   
• Information Design & Technology – Kathryn Stam at Kathryn.stam@sunypoly.edu
   
• Mechanical Engineering - Andrew Wolfe, Program Coordinator, at wolfea@sunypoly.edu
  • William Durgin, Adviser, at durginw@sunypoly.edu
     
• Ph.D. Nanoscale Engineering – Andres Melendez, Interim Dean of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, at jmelendez@sunypoly.edu 
• Advisers:
  • Spyros Gallis at sgalis@sunypoly.edu
  • Robert Brainard at rbrainard@sunypoly.edu
  • Carl Ventrice at cventrice@sunypoly.edu
  • Harry Efstathiadis at hefstathiadis@sunypoly.edu
  • Greg Denbeaux at gdenbeaux@sunypoly.edu
  • Woongje Sung at wsung@sunypoly.edu
  • Ji Ung Lee at jlee1@sunypoly.edu
  • James Lloyd at jlloyd@sunypoly.edu
  • Alain Diebold at adiebold@sunypoly.edu
  • Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik at sshahedipour-sandvik@sunypoly.edu
  • Susan Sharfstein at ssharfstein@sunypoly.edu
     
• Nanoscale Science – Andres Melendez at jmelendez@sunypoly.edu
• Advisers:
  • BS – Carl Ventrice at cventrice@sunypoly.edu
  • Ph.D. – Yubing Xie at yxie@sunypoly.edu
     
• Network & Computer Security – John Marsh, Chair, at john.marsh@sunypoly.edu