EOC Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Golden Opportunities Gala

October 13, 2016

The Capital District Educational Opportunity Center (EOC), which has helped thousands of students realize career goals and obtain economic independence, will cap off its 50th anniversary with a "Golden Opportunities" gala, Friday, Oct. 14 at Franklin Plaza in Troy. 

Hosted by the Hudson Valley Community College Foundation, the gala serves as the final event in a year-long anniversary celebration for the EOC. Proceeds from the event will establish a much-needed student transportation fund. While the EOC enrolls approximately 900 students per year, transportation is a major barrier to student enrollment and retention in the center's variety of career and workforce preparation programs.

"Golden Opportunities" also honors H. Carl McCall with the Hudson Valley Community College Foundation Leadership Award. Chairman of the State University of New York Board of Trustees, McCall has been a strong advocate for Educational Opportunity Centers and other programs that advance education access in New York State. During his distinguished career, Chairman McCall served as a New York State senator; president of the New York City Board of Education; comptroller of the State of New York; an ambassador to the United Nations; commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and commissioner of the New York State Division of Human Rights.

"We are honored to have Chairman McCall joining us for our 50th anniversary gala and to celebrate the extraordinary contributions he has made to public education and SUNY's network of Educational Opportunity Centers," said Dr. Lucille Marion, vice president and executive director at the EOC. "We at the EOC look forward to continuing to serve our community and providing many more years of career and educational opportunities for our students."

"Congratulations to the EOC on 50 years of continuous success, and to our honoree, SUNY Chairman H. Carl McCall, for his influential career in higher education and public service," said Hudson Valley Community College President Drew Matonak. "We are proud to be partners with the EOC in continuing to provide tremendous opportunities for personal, academic and professional advancement to our community."

"Chairman McCall has been a true champion of EOC, which has placed so many students on a path toward higher education and still others with a skill set that connects them to jobs," said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher. "This is a valuable program and I am so pleased to congratulate Capital District Educational Opportunity Center on 50 years, as well as Chairman McCall on receiving this honor. We can't thank him enough for his leadership and true devotion to public education."

The EOC is a division of Hudson Valley Community College and part of SUNY's University Center for Academic and Workforce Development. It delivers comprehensive, community-based academic and workforce development programs, and provides support services leading to enhanced employment opportunities, access to further education, personal growth and development. The EOC's services are provided free of charge for those who are eligible. Nearly 50,000 EOC students have gained self-confidence in their own potential, realized education and career goals, and obtained self-sufficiency and economic independence since 1966.

The Capital District EOC shares its golden anniversary with the Brooklyn, Buffalo and Manhattan Educational Opportunity Centers. Fifty years ago, these four sites formed the initial core for a new model of access and educational delivery for the State University of New York. Since those early days, additional EOCs, Counseling and Outreach Centers, and ATTAIN labs have come to form a network of educational programs and services that have transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals throughout the state.

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Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Community College offers more than 80 associate degree and certificate programs in four schools: Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Sciences; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and workforce and academic preparation programs offered through the Capital District Educational Opportunity Center. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, it has an enrollment of nearly 12,000 students, and is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and worker retraining. Hudson Valley has 75,000 alumni.