Dr. Alfred Ngome Ntoko, Ph.D. has been named provost and vice president of academic affairs of SUNY Empire State College, President Merodie Hancock has announced. Currently dean of the School of Business and Information Systems, York College, City University of New York College, he will assume the role on Sept. 1.

“It gives me great pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr. Alfred Ntoko as provost and vice president of academic affairs,” Hancock said. “Dr. Ntoko comes to Empire State College with a wide breadth of academic and business experience. His passion for our mission and the students we serve was evident throughout the interview process."

"I am very excited about the opportunity to join the team at SUNY Empire State College. SUNY Empire State College is uniquely positioned to prepare students for the challenges inherent in a period of rapid change and globalization.  It is a wonderful opportunity to do good,” Ntoko said, accepting the appointment.

Prior to his role at York College, Ntoko held academic and teaching roles at Texas A&M and SUNY Oswego. He holds both a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Binghamton University and a B.S. in management science and economics from SUNY Geneseo.

“This key leadership position at the college will be pivotal as we plan for our future and I am confident Dr. Ntoko has the skills and experience to help lead the way,” Hancock said.

In his current role, Ntoko has supervised the academic departments of accounting and finance, business and economics, as well as special programs in aviation management and management information systems; and has overseen the New York Aviation Institute, academic advisement center, achievement center, writing center and academic computing and educational technology.

Prior to York, Ntoko was dean of the College of Business and Public Administration at Kean University in Union, N.J., supervising six academic departments serving both undergraduate and graduate students and full- and part-time faculty, as well as top administrative staff. He had charge of hiring new faculty and staff, as well as their annual performance evaluations, making recommendations for tenure and reappointment, coordinating academic advisement, strategic planning, assessment, program reviews and accreditation and program development.

In the past he was dean of the College of Business at Texas A&M University-Texarkana; chair of the Department of Accounting, Finance and Law, School of Business, SUNY Oswego, where also had roles as director of the graduate program and director of academic advising and business administration.

Ntoko’s key past accomplishments include development of a B.S. in international business and logistics and supply chain management at York; and development and implementation of a partnership with three institutions from China, development of an M.A. in criminal justice, development and implementation of degree-completion programs in management, accounting, marketing, finance and criminal justice, development of departments of both criminal justice and marketing and successful NASPAA (Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration) re-accreditation of the M.P.A. by NASPAA, at Kean.

Additionally, at Texas A&M he led the development of online M.B.A. and B.B.A. programs, development of a fellows program with the U.S. Army Materials Command for training staff in its engineering and logistics program and establishment of the Dean’s Fund for Faculty Development. During his tenure at Oswego, he participated in grant-funded curriculum development for the University of Gambia, development of the Oswego/Budapest finance program, development of the international finance summer program, development of a B.S. in managerial accounting and coordination and development and implementation of the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) Accreditation Plan for the School of Business.

At each campus, he has been active in university governance and served on multiple committees and task forces.

He has held academic appointments as a tenured professor at York College, Kean University, Texas A&M-Texarcana and SUNY Oswego, and designed and taught online M.B.A. courses through the SUNY Learning Network, as well as the University of Liverpool. He has been widely published in professional journals and presented at many conferences, 

Ntoko has been active in community service in several locations where he has resided, as well as being a founding member of Health-link Africa, a nongovernment agency that provides medical assistance to African nations.

About SUNY Empire State College

Empire State College, the nontraditional, open college of the SUNY system, educates more than 20,000 students worldwide at eight international sites, more than 35 locations in the state of New York, online, as well as face to face and through a blend of both, at the associate, bachelor’s and master’s levels.

The average age of an undergraduate student at the college is 35 and graduate students average age 40.

Most Empire State College students are working adults. Many are raising families and meeting civic commitments in the communities where they live, while studying part time.

In addition to awarding credit for prior college-level learning, the college pairs each undergraduate student with a faculty mentor who supports that student throughout his or her college career.

Working with their mentors, students design an individual degree program and engage in guided independent study and course work onsite, online or through a combination of both, which provides the flexibility for students to choose where, when and how to learn.

Students have the opportunity to enroll five times during the year.

The college’s 70,000 alumni are active in their communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, artists, nonprofit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active military, union members and more.

 The college was first established in 1971 by the SUNY Board of Trustees with the encouragement of the late Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the SUNY system from 1970 to 1977.

 Boyer also served as United States commissioner of education during the administration of President Jimmy Carter and then as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

More information about the college is available at www.esc.edu.

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Media contact: David Henahan, director of communications

518-587-2100, ext. 2918

David.Henahan@esc.edu

518-321-7038 (after hours and on weekends)