Hartwick College Declared

Otsego Now ‘Partner Of Year’

COOPERSTOWN – Hartwick College is Otsego Now’s “Partner of the Year,” Bob Hanft, past chairman of the organization, announced at the county IDA’s annual meeting this morning in the Cooperstown Distillery.

Hanft cited two projects in particular that led to the designation:

• One, the college’s plan to renovate dorms and building 72 town homes, an effort that involved $39 million in IDA bonding.  President Margaret Drugovich, who was present, has said the project will bring many of the 300-400 undergrads back into the “campus community” to experience that important aspect of a residential liberal arts education.

• Two, the college’s Center for Craft Food & Beverage, a collaboration with Otsego Now that has brought in $500,000 in state grants and created the only testing lab in the state for the growing craft-beer industry.

The Cooperstown Distillery was chosen for the annual meeting as the only entity this year to receive actual direct funding from the IDA, Devin Morgan, the incoming board chair, explained.   That happened, he said, because the Cooperstown Beverage Exchange it created is a centerpoint of the Beverage Trail, and a way highlight all the industry’s offerings.

Also this morning, it was announced Dawn Rivers, Otsego Now’s workforce development director, will be leaving to pursue a Ph.D. at UNC, Chapel Hill.   She will be succeeded by Patrick Doyle of Binghamton, a former legislative aide with contacts in Albany and expertise in workforce development in Broome County.