Utica College (or UC) is a private university located in Utica, in the U.S. state of New York. The history of the college dates back to the 1930s when Syracuse University began offering extension courses in the Utica area. Syracuse University established Utica College as a four-year institution in 1946, and in 1995, UC became a financially and legally independent institution. UC is officially mentioned in Syracuse’s Charter, Article 1, Section 3: “Utica College shall be represented by the President, appointed ex officio, and by the dean of the college, and another representative selected by the college.” Utica began offering its own graduate degrees in 1999 and its own undergraduate degrees in 2011.
Utica College offers 36 undergraduate majors, 27 undergraduate minors, and 21 graduate programs. The chemistry program is approved by the American Chemical Society. Utica College also offers programs in teacher education which lead to certification. Utica College is well known for its health science education. It is one of the leading colleges in both occupational therapy and physical therapy. One of its strongest social science programs is in child life psychology The college has also received national attention for its economic crime programs. In fact, Utica College was the first institution in the world to offer a Master’s degree in Economic Crime Management. For the Class of 2013, the average high school GPA was a 3.42. The current freshman class is also the largest in the college’s history with over 600 students.
UC offers 25 Division III intercollegiate sports affiliated with the NCAA, Empire 8 Conference and the ECAC. Teams are known as the Pioneers and compete in the Empire 8 Athletic Conference along with Elmira, Alfred, Hartwick, Ithaca, Nazareth, Stevens Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher.