PLAY fulfills a niche at Empire State University as an organization focused on the field of teacher education. The organization supports the university’s mission, building on students’ experiences, promoting growth, and contributing to our students’ upward mobility and economic development in New York State and beyond. PLAY welcomes all university students and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, color, religion, age, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation.

The organization’s purposes are to:

• coordinate opportunities that provide university students with extra-curricular opportunities related to the field of education. Opportunities may include but are not limited to colloquia, speakers, or attendance at conferences that students would not ordinarily have access to in the classroom.

• maintain an informational website, currently offered through the Office of Student Engagement, to promote learning and events.

• provide opportunities for students to develop professional relationships with university peers, faculty, staff, or to broaden their professional communities related to education.

• encourage student interest and participation in the selection of activities.

• seek and oversee funding to minimize cost or to offer opportunities at no cost to university students, particularly to offer these opportunities to students with limited financial resources.

• the organization’s advisory board will consist of faculty members from the university’s Department of Educational Studies and the School for Graduate Studies educational programs. Each entity will select a faculty member annually to serve as a PLAY coordinator.