Binghamton University will expand its work to improve student outcomes in community schools thanks to a new $1 million gift to its Center for Community Schools, now renamed the Couper-Owens Center for Community Schools .
The center, housed within the College of Community and Public Affairs , builds long-term partnerships with schools, community organizations, and families to improve learning outcomes for students from pre-K through 12th grade. Through research, evaluation, technical assistance, and school-based implementation, the center creates equitable pathways for student success and community well-being, from providing school-based social-emotional support to helping families and students meet basic needs such as food and housing.
An official dedication ceremony took place Friday, Sept. 18, at the University Downtown Center.
“The center has become a leader in the university-assisted community schools (UACS) model, and this gift really allows us to continue and expand our mission,” said Laura Bronstein, dean of the College of Community and Public Affairs and founding director of the Couper-Owens Center for Community Schools. “We are grateful to the donors for their ongoing support for what we do and for believing in our mission to make education accessible and impactful for all.”
The funding will allow the center to continue and build upon existing initiatives and opportunities, including: placing hundreds of Binghamton University students as interns and volunteers in schools to provide tutoring, mentoring, and social-emotional support; providing technical support and training to community schools around the state; conducting interdisciplinary research to evaluate student outcomes; and more.
The gift was made possible by the late Janet C. Watrous and Robert Kochersberger, a couple with longstanding ties with the University who had previously dedicated the Charlie K. Community Schools Room, named for their son. The first half of the Couper-Owens name honors the Couper family, founding figures in the University’s history; the second half pays tribute to Kochersberger’s late mother, Marjorie Mae Owens, a school nurse in rural Western New York, who was known for bringing food and clothing to the homes of her students in need.
“The new center gave me and my late wife the opportunity to support it in a more tangible way, something that we really wanted to do, because our son was a former elementary school teacher, my mother was an elementary school nurse,” Kochersberger said. “And we've just felt really strongly about supporting this program because it is almost unique in the country for the outreach that it does into public schools.”
“Community engagement, just like celebrating our history and traditions, is a critically important part of what we do,” D’Alleva said. “And I often talk about the four pillars of our work as a great public university in education, research and scholarship, economic development, and community engagement. And this program touches on everything we do and need to do as a great public university. So I am so grateful for this support. I am so grateful that we are moving this program forward and that we will continue to have impact through it, not only and most importantly in our surrounding communities, but across the state, nationally, and globally.”
For Luann Kida , senior director of capacity building and implementation at the Couper-Owens Center for Community Schools, strong relationships with local school districts are key to its approach.
“This isn’t a program that is set up down the hall and forgotten about,” Kida said. “We’re reaching families and making a real impact. We strive to create meaningful partnerships with schools, supporting their important work while trying to break the intergenerational cycle that so many kids and families get caught up in. Community schools bring together schools, families, and community partners to address barriers, creating learning environments where children can thrive.”
Binghamton University President Anne D’Alleva praised the center as a national and global leader in community schools. She said that through this gift, Binghamton is poised to make a difference in the local community and across higher education. The center’s