It was granted the ability to award baccalaureate degrees in 1938, after which it was renamed as the State Teachers College at New Paltz; the inaugural class of 112 students graduated in 1942.

Just one year after that, in 1961, the school updated its name yet again, to the State University of New York College of Arts and Science at New Paltz.

Amid this tumult, the college's general education program (including then-vanguard introductory surveys of African and Asian cultures) was eliminated in 1971; a distribution requirement was re-instituted in 1993.

Three years later, the experimental studies program (reorganized as the innovative studies program in 1975) began to enroll students, instructors, and local residents in credited and cocurricular courses that encompassed myriad disciplines, including video art (under Paul Ryan), dance therapy, clowning, camping, and ecodesign.

A 4-acre (1.6 ha) environmental studies site operated by students and community members under the aegis of the program at the southern periphery of the campus included geodesic domes, windmills, kilns, a solar-powered house funded by the Department of Energy, and more inchoate variants of sustainable architecture.

Upon ascending to the college presidency in 1980, Alice Chandler characterized the edifices as "shacks and hovels" and abolished the program in the early 1980s, demolishing most of the site in the process.

[7] Under Chandler's leadership, the college began to offer professional degree programs in nursing, engineering, journalism, and accounting.

On December 29, 1991, the campus was the scene of a widely reported PCB incident that contaminated four dormitories (Bliss, Gage, Capen and Scudder halls), as well as the Coykendall Science Building and Parker Theatre.

[11] The second, a seminar entitled "Subject to Desire: Refiguring the Body", was sponsored by the School of Fine and Performing Arts.

One presenter, Fluxus performance artist and longtime New Paltz resident Carolee Schneemann, was best known for Interior Scroll (1975), a piece that culminated in her unrolling a scroll from her vagina and reading it to the audience; at the seminar, Schneemann exhibited[12] abstract photographs of her vagina as part of Vulva's Morphia (1995), "a visceral sequence of photographs and text in which a Vulvic personification presents an ironic analysis juxtaposing slides and text to undermine Lacanian semiotics, gender issues, Marxism, the male art establishment, religious and cultural taboos.

"[13] Political conservatives were outraged that a public university had hosted such events, and Governor George Pataki and SUNY chancellor Robert King expressed their displeasure.

The college's then-president, Roger Bowen, defended freedom of expression on campus and refused to apologize, doing little to allay conservative ire.

The theater is named in honor of Dr. Rebecca McKenna, professor of English and drama and the founder of the theatre arts program at New Paltz.

The building was renovated in 1994, featuring a modified thrust stage surrounded by a three-quarter audience configuration seating up to 200 people.

The rear of the hall contains a small studio equipped with Pro-tools HD and a Control 24 sound board used for recording professional performances.

SUNY New Paltz teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III.

Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer, swimming & diving, volleyball and lacrosse; women's sports include basketball, cross country, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis and volleyball.

For the first time in program history, New Paltz men’s volleyball team captured the NCAA Division III Tournament title in 2016.

Clubs that are recognized by the Student Association are organized into one of six boards: academic, advocacy, athletic, fine and performing arts, media, and social and cultural.

This on-campus company operates the dining halls and bookstore, as well as being the source of discretionary funds for spending by the college president and the RHSA.

In 2010, it was honored by the Society of Professional Journalists for having the Best Affiliated Website for four-year college or university (Region 1 competition).

Recognized fraternities and sororities at the university include:[36] There were several student-led demonstrations in the late 1960s and early 1970s, primarily against the Vietnam War.

A March 1974 sit-in at the Haggerty Building reacted against perceived discriminatory hiring practices, the state-mandated reintegration of Shango Hall (which then housed underrepresented students), and the threatened cessation of the experimental studies program in the wake of a budget shortfall.