Marist in the Decade
Seeing new state-of-the-art developments such as the The Steel Plant and the recently renovated McCann facilities, as well as presidential changes, Marist experienced an era of growth this past decade.
In 2016, the Marist College community welcomed in a new president after 36 years of college President Dennis Murray at the helm. Since being the Marist College President from 1979 to 2016, Murray stepped down. The institution then welcomed new President David Yellen.
Yellen, the fourth president in Marist’s history, came from Loyola University of Chicago Law School, where he had the role of dean and professor.
Yellen’s tenure at Marist College was short lived. He resigned in summer 2019, welcoming Dennis Murray back as President to finish out the decade as Marist College President.
Campus Developments
Murray and Yellen welcomed in a decade of campus evolution. The previous existing Steel Plant underwent a 47,000 square foot redevelopment to create the modern Steel Plant Studios.
This redevelopment hopes to “bolster the fashion, art, and digital media programs in both quality and scope, attracting a larger and more qualified candidate pool in related majors,” as stated in a Marist news release from February 2019 titled Renovated Steel Plant is Unveiled.
Redevelopments and construction have been no stranger to Marist throughout the decade. The college grew and accommodated a wider range of students and academics during the time.
The Hancock Center opened in 2011. It was shortly followed by the Fusco music hall, which has recently been dedicated to Frank and Nelly Fusco after a $2.5 million gift. The music center was opened simultaneously with the renovated dining hall in 2013.
Over the next few years, Marist expanded with a massive student living space development at the campus’ north end, as well as the construction of the Allied Health building across from the Steel Plant Studios in Jan. 2016.
Massive campus redevelopments and constructions help bolster student engagement and academic excellence as well as increasing the college’s enrollment rate through the increased capacity at the north end dormitory development.
Partnerships
Growing the Marist and IBM Corporation research partnership has been instrumental in driving the institutions technology development. This partnership has been around far before the beginning of the last decade, but Marist has worked to grow that relationship over the last decade.
At the end of the decade, IBM took this partnership to the next level, installing the world's first IBM LinuxONE III.
A Marist College news release from November 2019 titled, Marist College Installs World’s First IBM LinuxONE III™, boasted the technological advancement that this addition will give to the Marist community. “LinuxONE is helping Marist close the information technology (IT) skills gap in the workplace by providing widespread access to LinuxONE via a virtual computer lab environment.”
While Marist has been growing internationally with the continued development of Florence, Italy and Dublin, Ireland branch campuses, the school is also deeply tapped into the local Hudson Valley community through the FDR Presidential Library and the Marist Archive Collections.
Out of 6 institutions to have a partnership with a presidential library, Marist College hosts a positive relationship with the Franklin D. Roosevelt presidential library. With an extensive archival collection at Marist College, all of the FDR Presidential Library digital archives are hosted by Marist along with a collaboration website launched in 2016 that is fully hosted by Marist.
Athletics
Marist College athletics dominated the MAAC Championships earning dozens of championships and immense student success.
In a retrospective release by Marist Athletics, Women's Basketball, Softball, Men’s Rowing, Women’s Swim and Dive, Water Polo, Men’s Tennis, Baseball, Women’s Tennis, Men’s Lacrosse, Women’s Rowing, Women’s Lacrosse and Women’s Soccer saw MAAC rings in the last decade of Marist sports.
Women’s Basketball, Men’s Lacrosse and Women’s Water Polo saw NCAA victories in the last decade with nearly a dozen sports competing in the NCAA tournament.
At the end of the decade Marist Athletics gathered 113 MAAC Championships, according to the retrospective released at the end of last year.
Marist College has grown immensely since the beginning of the decade, whether physically with campus developments, academic and technological advancements, and sports achievements.