Congratulations on becoming a part of the SUNY Potsdam community!
We have put together some information that we hope will help you navigate your way around the campus and community.
Resources
FAQs
Follow along and complete the New Student Checklist here to make sure that you are good to go! If you have any questions or need help, please feel free to reach out to the Office of Admissions.
Check out Residence Life’s suggested packing list here. For Welcome Weekend, we suggest bringing comfortable walking shoes, sunscreen, weather appropriate clothes for activities and energy to meet your fellow peers!
Visit Get Involved to check out all the Welcome Weekend events and everything that’s happening on-campus. The full Welcome Weekend schedule will be available by mid-July. If you log onto Get Involved using your email username and password, you will be able to see even more events happening on-campus!
Before you come to campus, you can visit Get Involved, which is our one stop shop for all things student clubs/organizations and campus activities. Complete your club and organization interest survey through BearPAWS and explore our different student clubs/organizations! After Orientation, check out the Welcome Weekend Carnival the Sunday before classes, where over 30 student clubs and organizations will be promoting their group AND get tons of free DIYs and giveaways!
We are so excited that they came to support you! Once you have moved in on Thursday, August 22, join us for Sundaes with Suzanne from 2 – 5 p.m. behind the Student Union to enjoy ice-cream with SUNY Potsdam’s President, meet students, faculty, staff, and connect with student services offices where you might even get some free Potsdam merch! This is an optional activity, so if you do not have time to attend, no worries!
After you have moved in, you can head to dinner with your family, friends and/or supporters or join your Resident Assistant for dinner with your floor. Please ask your family, friends and/or supporters to leave campus by 7 p.m., so you are not late for your first Residential Hall Floor Meeting at 7:30 p.m.
Visit OneStop to get support with your enrollment and financial needs, including registration, billing, loans and more.
All SUNY Potsdam students with an active email account have access to Microsoft 365 Suite for free as part of your student perks! You can download and use Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, Teams, and more throughout your Potsdam career. Learn about how to get set up and about our other campus support here.
We love a good Bear name, and we have some other campus resources with unique names so here’s an introductory Potsdam glossary:
- BearPAWS: BearPAWS is your portal for accessing your student records including your schedule, your bill, your meal plan, and more.
- BearDeN: BearDeN is your personalized degree plan. Tracks all your college, general education, major, and minor requirements. You can find BearDeN by signing into BearPAWS.
- Bear Express/Bear: Bear Express is our campus cash that can be used in a variety of ways both on and off campus.
- Flex: Flex is another version of our campus cash that can only be used at on-campus dining locations to supplement the meal plans.
- Bear Cave: Bear Cave is our all you care to eat dining buffet option on-campus, located in Thatcher Hall.
- Bear Shuttle: Bear Shuttle is a free shuttle for students operated by St. Lawrence County Public Transit that takes students to various places in downtown Potsdam!
- Brightspace: Brightspace is a Learning Management System that allows for online learning, such as posting lectures, videos, assignments, discussion forums, quizzes, and questionnaires. Review your course syllabi to learn about how your professors might utilize this platform.
- Starfish: Starfish is used this to make appointments with your advisor, campus service offices, or sign up for a tutor. Your faculty will use it to send you progress surveys in weeks 5 and 6 of every term.
- MPR: Multipurpose Room! We have two large multi-use spaces on-campus, in the Barrington Student Union and in the Knowles Conference Center.
SUNY Potsdam has a University Police (UP) Department that helps keep our campus safe! Anyone can reach UP through a campus phone by dialing x2222 or (315) 267-2222. Additionally, students should sign up for Rave Alerts and download the Rave Guardian App.
- Rave Alert/Rave: Rave or Rave Alert is SUNY Potsdam’s emergency alert system that delivers messages such as weather delays and campus alerts via email, text, and voice message to contacts you identify.
- Rave Guardian: Rave Guardian Safety App is a free mobile app that turns any smartphone into a personal safety device. It’s like having an emergency blue light system in your pocket. Download it before you get to campus!
Yes! The Prometheus Alumni Food Pantry is a non-judgmental resource for all members of our campus community and it’s located in the Barrington Student Union Lobby on the 1st Floor past the mailroom, Room 119.
We have a Bear Shuttle that stops on campus and brings students throughout downtown Potsdam, to the four local colleges, and in various places in Canton! You can check out the schedule and stops online and learn more about St. Lawrence County’s public transit system here.
Yes! There is wireless internet access in the residence halls, buildings on-campus, and we even have a drive-thru wifi hotspot with internet access for local students.