Application Process

Considering Geneseo. Have not visited yet, but see that it is a hilly campus. have activity induced asthma and steep hills can be a problem. Are the hills bad?

Is the program here any good? I’m out of state looking into SUNY schools and saw a couple of people saying this was a good option for polisci. Is it worth it for out of state?

please, please DM me.

hi im a returning sophmore. i didnt really make a strong effort last year to get involved in any clubs or organizations. are there any recommendations that are easy to join or interesting? is there somewhere on the college website to look for information, or do most clubs post their stuff to instagram or something like that? I really appreciate any help!

Hello, I’m just wondering if anyone has owned this rack or something similar. The dorm doors are too thick and I’m scared that I’ll waste my money on this. I tried using an over the door hanger, unfortunately the hooks couldn’t make it over. If someone could give me some advice because I’m not in a position to gamble with my money :,)

Edit: Just realized I can hang it in the closet. I’m an idiot.

I got accepted into the ace program. I am supposed to take an Ace program lecture every semester but when I try to register, it doesn’t let me. When I search of the CRN it says “exp” and won’t let me register. Is it supposed to do this? I only got the message that I needed to do this 2 days ago

I'd like to honestly explore why Denise Battles is making $307,800 as a "special advisor" to the Chancellor. That's more than what she made salary-wise as Geneseo President (which was $284k for her last year). She currently makes more than EVERYONE at Geneseo except for President Treadwell.

If you look at the full list of salaries for the SUNY office, first off, what is this role vs. other roles? I looked up everyone else above her and they all appear to have defined roles and experience in their fields. So her title is odd to me. And what does she do for it? My wholly legitimate questions are as follows:

1. What is her actual job day to day? What deliverables does Denise provide for this job? And what is the purpose of the job? What has she done to actually do this job since leaving Geneseo? Note that she apparently lives in NC and not in New York (actually about 700 miles from Albany), so she's not in the HQ office, despite being the 12th highest paid person at the SUNY system of nearly 600. Was this position posted over a year ago and she was interviewed as a finalist and eventually got the job? Or did some other process occur for her to get the job?
2. Denise was a scientist/geologist and higher education administrator for decades prior to being a President, but nowhere does it say that she took classes or has formal training in advocating for women in STEM. She appears to hold no degrees nor any documented experience for that role. Does anyone know of any research that she has officially done or papers she has written to justify being given this role and making over $300k? How about official presentations advocating for women in stem at any position? All I can find is geological papers from the late 1990s. I see no evidence of advocacy or speeches done during her previous years in higher education nor after her departure. I would be happy for anyone to post otherwise.
3. Why was she given this specific role after she left Geneseo? What was the motivation for the SUNY Chancellor John King to create this new/unique role just for Denise, as I see no evidence of a search for the role? I also don't see examples of this role anywhere else in the last 5-10 years of SUNY - it's not as if she was taking over for someone else who left the position right at the point where Denise left Geneseo. It actually appears to be a role that was created for Denise. Am I wrong here? Does anyone have any evidence that it is a standard role inside the SUNY Office and she assumed it after her departure from Geneseo?
4. Why is this role being paid $307k per year? What other compensation does she receive? What justifies the role within SUNY and what actually occurred to generate the role? What makes this role important enough to exist/get paid $307k but still allow it to reside 700+ miles away?
5. Finally, is it possible that Denise Battles generated this role herself due to negative feedback about her work at Geneseo and myriad accusations of Title IX violations involving students and employees? Is she concerned about both her existing Federal lawsuit involving Title IX and (apparently still) pending investigation by SUNY into title IX problems, and wanting to create a role that makes her look like an advocate for women, versus one who has been accused of some pretty serious violations? What do people think about that? Click on the links below to learn more about the situation she has right now:

https://www.thelcn.com/news/suny-geneseos-handling-of-sexual-assault-complaints-facing-independent-investigation/article_58897bfd-dda2-40ae-8469-fb474f1a643a.html

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/37970015/Bowles_v_The_State_University_of_New_York_at_Geneseo_et_al

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nywdce/6:2021cv06048/134310/44/

Some other items regarding Denise and Title IX - judge for yourself on whether this impacted the role that she now holds:

https://www.thelcn.com/top_story/suny-geneseo-students-take-to-instagram-to-share-stories-of-sexual-assault/article_9bd25c9f-0942-558a-b741-ad28263d399b.html

https://www.thelcn.com/news/failing-the-victims-suny-geneseo-silent-on-sexual-assault-reports-title-ix-response/article_83f5d24d-7a0b-43b6-880a-14cda85eb611.html

https://www.change.org/p/timesupgeneseo-justice-for-geneseo-victims-of-sexual-misconduct

https://www.hercampus.com/school/geneseo/frat-bros-will-be-frat-bros-greek-life-and-culture-sexual-assault/

https://thelamronarchive.squarespace.com/posts/2017/12/7/students-consider-quality-of-sexual-assault-support-after-number-of-reports-rise?rq=title%20ix

https://thelamronarchive.squarespace.com/posts/2019/9/12/geneseos-failure-to-investigate-a-sexual-assault-allegation-is-unjustifiable?rq=title%20ix

https://www.instagram.com/shareyourstorygeneseo/

If any Geneseo bio/ pre-med students could answer any of these questions I would appreciate it! What is the style of learning (How are most classes spent, is it practice based or passive lecturing?) Is the “no curve” policy a hassle? How does it compare to AP bio style? How does the program compare to other SUNYs? Can you get involved in serious research? Thanks!

I'm an incoming transfer student and I finished my associates at a school that would give you a bookstore credit out of your available financial aid to use at the start of the semester before actual aid refunds happened. Does Geneseo do anything like this?

hey so i’m an incoming freshman, and im wondering how big greek life is at geneseo. if i don’t join a sorority is there a chance for a social life or do my chances significantly decrease?

I really enjoy playing piano as a pastime- like, for hours on end usually. Are there any public pianos available, or any piano rooms? If so, are they usually occupied or could someone snag it for an hour or two every so often?

Hello,

I’m coming in as a first-year. I got accepted into Wayne Hall as a deluxe single corridor. I just want to know people’s experiences if they lived there and if so, what are things I need to be aware of. I saw a video of the residence on the Geneseo website, but below it stated that it hasn’t been updated so I assume there were a few changes made.

Hi, I'm a local here in Geneseo but I spend half the year in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. I'm wondering if there are any Vietnamese students who want to make some money teaching me the language.

Oh also, on another note, I would like to start renting out my place during the school year to faculty or adults.

Thanks!

Did Denise A. Battles write a very recent "anonymous" article about her time at Geneseo? And why is she still around out there talking about it? Don’t we have a new President and why won't Denise and Michael Mills (or whoever wrote this article) let us move on?

There are some rumors going around regarding Battles (our former and now apparently moved far away President) in the faculty ranks about a recent piece of writing now in Inside Higher Education, under the section “Advancing as an Administrator” and written anonymously by someone now known as “A Recovering College President.”  Link below: 

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/career-advice/advancing-administrator/2026/06/02/reasons-why-i-left-presidency-opinion

First, the title of the article seems a bit redundant because “reasons” and “why” mean basically the same thing. Kinda weird for a President to do that, but whatever, whoever wrote it can do what they want, including showing us some bad grammar. Second it seems VERY similar to DB's tenure at Genny and matches story-wise to an article written by Michael Mills, the spouse of Denise A. Battles: 

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/career-advice/2026/01/16/reflections-former-presidential-spouse-opinion 

If you read this, it might seem oddly familiar for a bunch of different reasons. Primarily because it’s the SAME STORY. I also ran both through an unnamed AI contraption and go this back: 

1. Shared biographical DNA Both writers describe a remarkably similar life path: a decade-long tenure at the same institution, a spouse who is also a lifelong academic employed at the same institution, a progression from dean → provost → president/presidential spouse, living in a historic presidential residence on or near campus, and exiting on a planned timeline. These are coincidences of circumstance, not style, but they're striking.

2. The "5.9 years" statistic — identical citation Both articles cite the average college presidency shrinking to exactly "a mere 5.9 years," and both link to the exact same ACE document. Mills writes "The average life of a college presidency has shrunk to a mere 5.9 years"; the anonymous author writes "the average tenure of a college president has plunged... to a mere 5.9 years in 2022." The word mere appears in both, modifying the same number, with the same citation. That's a very specific verbal echo. (writer note: Battles is an ACE Fellow)

3. Security/safety incidents involving the spouse Both articles describe disturbing safety incidents targeting the spouse specifically — not the president — and both frame those incidents as a key reason for eventually leaving or wrapping up the role. The details differ but the structure and emotional weight are nearly identical.

4. Ellipsis and dash usage for comic/dramatic effect Mills uses ellipses for a playful pause: "even the title … First Man? First Dude?" The anonymous author uses em-dashes and parenthetical asides in a similar rhythmic way for both humor and gravity — e.g., the bat/skunk anecdote and the Walmart cart inspection story.

5. Self-deprecating, humble framing before offering advice or opinions Mills says "humbly offered and born from 10 years on the job." The anonymous author says "at the risk of critique" and is careful to acknowledge privilege before making broader points. Both writers share this deflective, self-aware academic register.

6. Similar vocabulary register Both writers gravitate toward the same elevated-but-accessible academic vocabulary: myriad, fraught, prematurely, candid, entailed, distressing, albeit (implied in structure). Neither writes in a breezy journalistic style; both have a careful, measured prose rhythm typical of someone trained in the humanities or social sciences.

Anyway, people can believe what they want regarding these articles. But if it is Denise A. Battles, why make it anonymous? Is she just trying to vent or give us folks the gods-honest-truth about why she left Geneseo? Or is it her never-ending need for personal attention and she's taking another shot at an executive job somewhere else? I seriously just don’t get the point. She’s gone, for good, there’s a new President and the last time she visited Geneseo for some PBK meeting, didn’t only 7 people show up? That says to me that no one really cares about Denise. A normal person would have moved on by now.

You must know already or totally remember that the end of the article, in a couple paragraphs, it basically said that “anonymous” President bolted out of Genny cause of security issues involving her and husband. Yet, and this is pretty weird causeMichael Mills is STILL WORKING AT GENESEO happily churning out student fellowships and scholarships. Why is the guy still there if he’s under such threats like “The menacing persisted for months and served to remove any lingering doubts we had about the timeline for my transitioning out of the presidency.” Writer, you might as well have added "Well, we need the money cause I am no longer a President." Not to mention that Denise A. Battles said months ago in several articles that she was RETIRING from the Geneseo Presidency. Does this mean she wants a way back into another Presidency? God save us.

And thus my final question is whether Denise A. Battles actually left because of host of other issues, listed below as opposed to what she currently claims in the anon article. Is it possible that the “threats” are a convenient and misdirected excuse in order to try to avoid getting questions about the items below?

Basically she's trying to whitewash her record at Geneseo, but in a clearly dumb/anonymous way. See the list of the stuff she started and she can still be held accountable by SUNY and by the Federal Courts:

Title IX problems (which has an investigation and that is still underway, courtesy of SUNY):

https://www.thelcn.com/news/suny-geneseos-handling-of-sexual-assault-complaints-facing-independent-investigation/article_58897bfd-dda2-40ae-8469-fb474f1a643a.html

https://www.thelcn.com/top_story/suny-geneseo-students-take-to-instagram-to-share-stories-of-sexual-assault/article_9bd25c9f-0942-558a-b741-ad28263d399b.html

https://www.thelcn.com/news/failing-the-victims-suny-geneseo-silent-on-sexual-assault-reports-title-ix-response/article_83f5d24d-7a0b-43b6-880a-14cda85eb611.html

https://www.change.org/p/timesupgeneseo-justice-for-geneseo-victims-of-sexual-misconduct

https://www.hercampus.com/school/geneseo/frat-bros-will-be-frat-bros-greek-life-and-culture-sexual-assault/

https://thelamronarchive.squarespace.com/posts/2017/12/7/students-consider-quality-of-sexual-assault-support-after-number-of-reports-rise?rq=title%20ix

https://thelamronarchive.squarespace.com/posts/2019/9/12/geneseos-failure-to-investigate-a-sexual-assault-allegation-is-unjustifiable?rq=title%20ix

https://www.instagram.com/shareyourstorygeneseo/

CURRENT federal lawsuit against Denise and the Geneseo Foundation board involving Title 9/7, going on for 3-4 years:

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/37970015/Bowles_v_The_State_University_of_New_York_at_Geneseo_et_al

https://www.thelamron.com/news/30plyuhs6wcv4mi3n9iez4agvvcgn9

Known enrollment problems (ouch), 5,500 to like 4k during her tenure, you can’t blame that on COVID or the recent cliff situation cause she started in like 2016. Look at that terrible graph:

https://www.thelcn.com/news/suny-geneseo-enrollment-up-slightly-ending-decade-of-steep-decline/article_9e0461df-0b1f-4fe9-b727-8f84829de763.html

There were also known budget issues but the articles that documented those are no longer available and I find that a bit weird in a sorta "control the local media" kinda way. OH WAIT I FOUND AN ARTICLE:

https://www.whec.com/top-news/letter-details-suny-geneseo-financial-crisis-hiring-and-travel-freeze/

this might be the wrong place to ask but im a current junior who got an email asking to register for the summer academy here, but theres no application just registration and they dont ask for grades or anything. im wondering if anyone else has gone and what ur experience was like? how easy is it to get accepted or is it a lottery?

Hello! I’m a history grad student coming from out of state (Virginia). I’ve done a lot of research on Geneseo and the greater Rochester area, along with what I already know about Western New York, but I know some of the most useful things come from actual lived experience, not Google searches. You know, real insider stuff.

Does anyone have any insider advice or things I should know before moving in, about the area, the college, or just getting settled and adjusting overall? I'm really excited about coming. I just haven't lived outside my home state before, and this would be my first time for any extended period of time this far North.

Stand up up veteran, Brad Lowery at the Deer Run Winery Saturday April 25.

Tickets available online

Hey. I’m a senior in HS, attending Geneseo next year. Ive seen on google maps that there is a church or two in Geneseo, but wanted to know if there were any Bible studies on, or near campus.

Hi everyone! I’m an MBA student working on a research project about how people choose ski resorts in Central / Upstate New York. 

I’ve put together a short anonymous survey (about 3 minutes) to better understand how skiers and visitors in the region decide where to go and what they look for in a ski experience. 

If you’ve visited ski resorts in this region, I’d really appreciate your input. 

Survey link: https://qualtricsxmkq7wpjzcj.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_agkmUBxJzPL4lDw 

The survey is completely anonymous and purely for academic research. Happy to share a short summary of the results once the project is finished if people are interested. 

Thanks so much! 

Hi! I am currently fly a freshman at SUNY Oswego and I hate it here.. I just put in my application at SUNY Geneseo, and I am really hoping to go here next year. I got a 3.0 for my first semester, and hopefully this semester my GPA will be 3.0-3.4 ish. I am really concerned about my GPA not being high enough to get in. I also was wondering about writing the statement letter, if that would be of any help? I also have a family connection to the school, but again I’m unsure if that would be of any help! if anyone has any tips or guidance/advice it would be great.

Finance in particular