Creating a College is a collection of President Volpes annual addresses on the state of the College of Staten Island. They constitute a history of the early years of the College, which was established in 1976 by the merger of an upper division institution, Richmond College and Staten Island Community College. The fiscal collapse of New York City in 1975 led to the unification of the two City University of New York institutions on Staten Island. The complex process of merging two disparate institutions, with differing missions and educational philosophies at two locations, miles apart, during a period of severe fiscal constraint is recorded in these eighteen addresses. Such a merger has been a rare occurrence in American higher education. Its end result was the creation of a new type of institution, the comprehensive college.

Creating a College is a collection of President Volpes annual addresses on the state of the College of Staten Island. They constitute a history of the early years of the College, which was established in 1976 by the merger of an upper division institution, Richmond College and Staten Island Community College. The fiscal collapse of New York City in 1975 led to the unification of the two City University of New York institutions on Staten Island. The complex process of merging two disparate institutions, with differing missions and educational philosophies at two locations, miles apart, during a period of severe fiscal constraint is recorded in these eighteen addresses. Such a merger has been a rare occurrence in American higher education. Its end result was the creation of a new type of institution, the comprehensive college.