Stuart Steiner records, 1997-1998, 1997-1998

Steiner was the president of Genesee Community College from 1975 to 2011 and took a leave of absence, at the request of the SUNY Chancellor, to serve as the interim president of F.I.T. from 1997 to 1998. Steiner has also had an active involvement in the SUNY community college system, serving as acting director to the SUNY Chancellor for Community Colleges; member of the SUNY Task Force on Community College Code and Standards of Operations and Procedures; member of the New York State Education Commissioner's Advisory Council on Higher Education; member, director, and president of the New York State Association of Presidents of Community Colleges; board member of the Institute for Community College Development; and member of the Middle States Commission.

The Fashion Institute of Technology was the brainchild of the educator Mortimer C. Ritter and the menswear manufacturer Max Meyer. The school opened in 1944 on the top two floors of the High School of Needle Trades. By 1951, there was enough support for the institute as well as students enrolled to warrant a degree program at FIT. That year, the school was granted the right to award an Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree. FIT received accreditation in 1957 and introduced a variety of courses, including Liberal Arts. During the 1960s, the curriculum grew to include interior design, advertising, and photography as subjects taught at the school. The following decade saw the school expanding to provide Bachelor's (in 1975) and Master's (1985) degree's, after years of lobbying State University Board of Education. FIT can boast about being the first to offer unique degrees in fields taught no where else in the U.S., such as Toy Design and Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design. There are 48 degree programs in total at FIT as of October 2020.

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