Jim and Christine Karcher

When you meet James ’79 and Christine ’93 Karcher, you will hear them sing the praises of their shared alma mater. SUNY Empire, they agree, “was the highlight of our academic careers.”

Jim received an associate degree in accounting at SUNY Farmingdale. He took several courses at other universities and was determined to put all his educational pieces together and attain a four-year business degree.

A traditional program was not an option. “I was working two or three jobs, had two young children and was expecting our third child,” he says. “There was no way for me to attend scheduled, multi-night classes.”

He thought he had no options until he found SUNY Empire “Not only did Empire State transfer most of my credits from other institutions, but I also received credits for work experience,” he says. He got his bachelor’s in business, management, and economics in 1979.

Chris’s Story

As their children grew, Chris contemplated finishing her own degree. “Jim encouraged me to enroll in SUNY Empire,” she says. “The flexibility of the program gave me the ability to pursue my degree and still be able to raise my family.”

She graduated with a B.S. in psychology and human development in 1993. She calls SUNY Empire “one of the best experiences of my life. The one-on-one interaction with the mentors and the degree program that was designed for me was exactly the perfect formula to achieve my goal. I gained more from this program than a traditional classroom experience.”

Service to the University

Jim is one of the longest-serving members of the SUNY Empire Foundation Board of Directors, joining the board in 2005. Besides being a member of the foundation’s Finance Committee for many years, he also chaired that committee and served as the chair for annual giving.

The couple’s desire to give back and help SUNY Empire students convinced them to establish the Karcher Family Scholarship in 2019 for undergraduate students from Long Island. Each fall, they look forward to receiving letters from Karcher Family scholars and hearing about each recipient’s journey and aspirations. They agree it’s rewarding to know they’re helping students achieve their goals.