MARCY, N.Y. (WKTV) - Students, faculty and staff at SUNY-IT gathered on campus Tuesday to mark the official start of the new academic year.

The purpose behind the convocation is to reaffirm the college's commitment to the pursuit of knowledge and also to spur the academic, cultural and social growth of the college community.

New this year, the college had a theme to the convocation; sustainability. College officials say that convocation is an important part of the college experience.

"It begins the career for our freshmen. It's the academic coming together and then the next step or the final step is graduation which is the other academic thing, so it's the beginning and the end. Convocation, graduation," says Dr. William Murabito, College V.P. of Student Affairs.

The convocation address was delivered by Anne Caldwell-Myers, who is provost of SUNY Cobleskill.