SUNY and the University of the West Indies formally entered into a partnership to establish the SUNY UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development, which will be located at SUNY Empire's Manhattan location, 325 Hudson Street, New York City.

President Merodie A. Hancock, Tom Mackey, vice provost for academic programs, Nathan Gonyea, interim dean for the college’s School for Graduate Studies and Interim Director for the Center for International Programs Francesca Cichello worked collaboratively with their SUNY and UWI counterparts to help establish the partnership, expand upon previously agreed areas of mutual interest and begin to develop specific initiatives.

SUNY announced the new center in a press release on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2016.

In February 2015, Hancock joined SUNY Board of Trustees Chairman H. Carl McCall when SUNY renewed its ties to UWI.

At that time, the two universities agreed to work together in both leadership and sustainable development, as well as open, distance and online learning.

During the February meeting, Hancock said, "The meetings with our colleagues at UWI to discuss our shared mission of open and online learning, prior learning and joint programming hold great promise for improving our collaborative efforts. Collaborating with UWI and learning more about their regional opportunities and challenges has everything to do with enhancing diversity for the college and improving teaching and learning in New York. This is particularly relevant and exciting for SUNY Empire’s three locations in New York City, where there is a large Caribbean population.”