{"id":2225,"date":"2025-08-20T14:51:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T18:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/?p=2225"},"modified":"2025-08-26T15:01:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T19:01:33","slug":"trailblazers-then-and-now-celebrating-suny-polys-first-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/blog\/cover-story\/trailblazers-then-and-now-celebrating-suny-polys-first-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"Trailblazers Then and Now: Celebrating SUNY Poly\u2019s First Graduates\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1007\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/thumbnail_IMG_8107-1-copy-1024x797-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2350\" style=\"width:495px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/thumbnail_IMG_8107-1-copy-1024x797-1.jpg 1007w, https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/thumbnail_IMG_8107-1-copy-1024x797-1-300x238.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/thumbnail_IMG_8107-1-copy-1024x797-1-768x610.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1007px) 100vw, 1007px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SUNY Poly\u2019s origins date back to 1966, when it was founded as the Upper Division College at Herkimer\/Rome\/Utica and held its first classes in an elementary school. It wasn\u2019t until 1975, however, that they celebrated their first graduates. As SUNY Polytechnic Institute prepares to welcome back alumni for the 2025 Wildcat Weekend, two members of the college\u2019s very first graduating class\u2014<strong>Nick Mazza \u201975 and Jerry Donovan \u201975<\/strong>\u2014are reflecting on the path that brought them to a brand-new school in Utica, and how far the institution has come since those early days.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 1971, the college had moved into a former textile mill in West Utica, which was slowly transformed into usable classrooms, faculty offices, and a modest library. That\u2019s where Mazza and Donovan began their SUNY Poly journey, part of a bold experiment in public higher education, with no dorms, no student union, and little certainty about the future.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"992\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Bridge-1975-Story-992x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2227\" style=\"width:400px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Bridge-1975-Story-992x1024.jpg 992w, https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Bridge-1975-Story-291x300.jpg 291w, https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Bridge-1975-Story-768x793.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Bridge-1975-Story.jpg 1164w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 992px) 100vw, 992px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Many members of the Class of 1975, like Mazza and Donovan, worked part-time jobs while taking classes, lived in small apartments around the city, and gathered at local haunts like the Rainbow Bar and Grill\u2014just across from the campus. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have a student center, so that bar became our unofficial hangout,\u201d recalls Donovan. \u201cIt\u2019s where we ate lunch, shared stories, and built friendships that still last today.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were a bit of an experiment,\u201d says Mazza. \u201cThere were only a handful of us, and the school didn\u2019t even have a permanent campus yet. But we believed in the potential, and we made it work.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That sense of camaraderie and the two\u2019s longstanding friendship extended beyond graduation. Donovan even served as the first president of the Alumni Association, lobbying alongside others to secure funding for what would become the permanent campus in Marcy. Leading the charge for the new campus was Jerry\u2019s father, late State Senator James Donovan, who is celebrated as the driving force behind the Marcy campus coming to fruition. Donovan Hall, where the university\u2019s four colleges are housed, bears his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were lobbying the governor, the trustees\u2014whoever would listen,\u201d Donovan says. \u201cThere was a moment it could\u2019ve all been lost. My father didn\u2019t let that happen.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo see what\u2019s up there now\u2014tech companies, advanced labs, a growing student body\u2014it\u2019s amazing,\u201d Donovan notes. \u201cIt\u2019s everything we hoped it could become.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since graduating in 1975, Nick Mazza has built a distinguished career in public service, most notably serving for two decades as County Manager of Livingston County, where he oversaw key administrative and fiscal operations. After retiring from that role, he continued to stay active in civic leadership and now serves as chairman of the Albany County Pine Hills Redevelopment Corporation, where he leads efforts to revitalize the former St. Rose College campus.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"849\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Unknown-849x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2228\" style=\"width:319px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Unknown-849x1024.jpeg 849w, https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Unknown-249x300.jpeg 249w, https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Unknown-768x926.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/bridge.sunypoly.edu\/fall-2025\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/08\/Unknown.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 849px) 100vw, 849px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Jerry Donovan also pursued a career deeply rooted in community impact, working as a development director for nonprofit organizations as well as dabbling in government affairs, where he advocated for regional economic and educational priorities. He also spent a few years working for the NYS Department of Labor. Now retired, Donovan remains closely connected to SUNY Poly and the legacy he and fellow alumni helped shape.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As they look ahead to their 50th class reunion, both men are eager to reconnect with former classmates and celebrate the legacy they helped start. \u201cWe were just trying to get our degrees, find our way,\u201d says Mazza. \u201cNow we get to come back, not just to reminisce, but to see what we were part of building. It\u2019s a full-circle moment.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A special breakfast will be held on Saturday, September 20, during Wildcat Homecoming Weekend. In addition to honoring outstanding alumni, the event will include a Wildcat Induction Ceremony for the Class of 1975\u2014formally welcoming them into the Wildcat family, as the mascot didn\u2019t exist when they first graduated. The meaningful gesture will officially connect these earliest graduates with the Wildcat spirit that has become such a proud part of SUNY Poly\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To register for the breakfast, please visit <a href=\"http:\/\/sunypoly.edu\/wildcat-homecoming-weekend\">sunypoly.edu\/wildcat-homecoming-weekend<\/a> or contact the Alumni Association at alumni@sunypoly.edu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SUNY Poly\u2019s origins date back to 1966, when it was founded as the Upper Division College at Herkimer\/Rome\/Utica and held its first classes in an elementary school. It wasn\u2019t until 1975, however, that they&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover-story"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trailblazers Then and Now: Celebrating SUNY Poly\u2019s First Graduates\u00a0 - The Bridge Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trailblazers Then and Now: Celebrating SUNY Poly\u2019s First Graduates\u00a0 - The Bridge Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SUNY Poly\u2019s origins date back to 1966, when it was founded as the Upper Division College at Herkimer\/Rome\/Utica and held its first classes in an elementary school. 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