Three new residence halls being constructed on Ostrom, Waverly and Comstock avenues are set to reshape campus living, with nearly 1,900 new beds, a dining center, a convenience store and dozens of new lounges and study rooms between them.
The halls, which will house second-year students starting in fall 2027, all feature four- and two-bedroom style suites with in-suite bathrooms.
Read the full story at Syracuse University News.
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Brett Padgett today announced the appointment of Emily Desiderio as Associate Vice President and Treasurer, effective October 1, 2026. Desiderio will lead the University’s treasury operations, including management of its long-term debt portfolio, cash management and short-term investing, the Bursar’s Office, and administration of the University’s outsourced chief investment officer relationship. She will report to the Senior Associate Vice President for Finance within the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
“Emily brings the treasury expertise, debt and cash management experience, and executive financial leadership Syracuse needs as we continue to strengthen our long-term financial position,” said Padgett. “She will be a trusted strategic partner to our senior leadership team and Board of Trustees, and I am confident she will bring disciplined financial stewardship to the University.”
Desiderio joins Syracuse University from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where she served as Deputy Chief Financial Officer, partnering with the county’s CFO to manage all fiscal affairs for a jurisdiction with an annual operating budget of $2.6 billion. In that role, she oversaw the county’s treasury portfolio and developed a financial model that enabled reliable forecasting of debt issuance and rate-setting needs for major county service lines.
Earlier in her career, Desiderio spent more than five years with the City of Durham, North Carolina, rising to Interim Finance Director after serving as Deputy Finance Director and Treasury Manager, where she oversaw the city’s treasury, revenue, and collections divisions and supervised all city debt issuance. Before that, she spent a decade at Bank of New York Mellon in Syracuse, advancing to Vice President and helping capture $50 billion in new institutional business.
“I am honored to return to Syracuse and to join a University community I know well from my time earning my MBA here,” said Desiderio. “I look forward to working with colleagues across the University to strengthen our treasury operations and support Syracuse’s long-term financial sustainability.”
Desiderio holds a Master of Business Administration from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Science in Economics with a minor in Business Administration from LeMoyne College.
The granite pavers crisscrossing the Newhouse Family Plaza have anchored one of the University’s most recognizable gathering spaces for decades, connecting three buildings built across three different eras. This summer, major work is being done on the plaza.
Beneath the pavers sits a drainage system that has shifted, tilted and needed repairs over the years. This summer marks the start of a comprehensive renovation that will replace the membrane, drains and pavers across all three sections of the plaza, work that campus planners say should keep the space watertight and stable for years to come.
Read the full story at Syracuse University News.
Syracuse University today announced it will fund roughly $436 million in financial aid, scholarships, grants and related assistance, a 9% increase over the prior year driven by the University’s ongoing commitment to student opportunity and affordability.
“Financial aid is one of the most direct ways we make a Syracuse education possible for more students,” says Ryan Williams, vice president for enrollment services. “This increase reflects how seriously we take that responsibility, and we are excited about the students who will join our community in the fall.”
Read the full story at Syracuse University News.
The University’s most famous bench needs a touch-up.
The granite Kissing Bench, located outside the Hall of Languages and donated as a senior class gift by the Class of 1912, is undergoing some minor repairs beginning on Monday and lasting for approximately three weeks.
The area around the bench, on the west side of the Hall of Languages, will be fenced off and the bench will be inaccessible while the repairs are ongoing.
The University continues to strengthen its commitment to the safety of minors (children under the age of 18 who are not matriculated University students) who are invited to campus or participating in programs operated, controlled or sponsored by the University.
The Office of Institutional Risk Management is issuing a reminder to all campus departments regarding the University’s official safety of minors policy. As the summer months tend to be filled with youth programming on campus, this is a key time for departments to ensure they are adhering to the policy’s registration and reporting requirements.
Read the full story at Syracuse University News.
Beginning Tuesday, March 31, and continuing through Friday, April 3, Syracuse University will host a multi-agency hazardous materials drill on South Campus. Several agencies, including the New York State National Guard Civil Support Team 2, the Syracuse Fire Department HazMat Team, Onondaga County Emergency Management and the Syracuse University Department of Public Safety will take part in the exercise, which is meant to showcase hazardous material response techniques used by military and civilian emergency response professionals.
Read the full story at Syracuse University News.
The future of sustainable multifamily housing in cold climates may be residing in two retrofitted student apartment buildings on Syracuse University’s South Campus. The buildings—part of the ambitious Sustainable South Campus project—now serve as real-world testbeds for state-of-the-art energy efficiency technology.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Building Construction (ABC) Initiative and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the project combines prefabricated insulated wall panels, high-performance windows and doors, real-time monitoring and next-gen HVAC systems to significantly cut energy use while improving indoor air quality and occupant comfort.
Read the full story at Syracuse University News.
As the calendar steadily marches through January, Syracuse is living up to its reputation for snowfall—and lots of it. According to WSYR NewsChannel 9, more than 93 inches of snow has fallen in the Syracuse area this season as of Jan. 19.
Enter the University’s winter warriors: the Facilities Services grounds team, who work around the clock to keep campus walkable and drivable during snowstorms.
Read the full story at Syracuse University News.
Syracuse University (SU) contributed $1.8 billion to the Central New York economy and supported 35,132 jobs across the five-county region in fiscal year 2023-24.
That’s according to an economic-impact study that SU commissioned. The study, conducted by Lightcast, found that the university’s economic impact increased by nearly 64 percent from the $1.1 billion reported in 2017.
Read the full story in the CNY Business Journal.
