NEW PALTZ — With a snip of the scissors, Louis and Mildred Resnick will cut the ribbon and make official the opening of the new Louis and Mildred Resnick Engineering Hall at the State University of New York at New Paltz on Thursday, October 29. Fourteen years after the College admitted its first students to its new bachelor’s degree program in electrical engineering, SUNY New Paltz faculty, staff and friends will gather outside the new facility to dedicate the building and to celebrate its opening.
Following introductory remarks by President Roger W. Bowen, President Emerita Alice Chandler (1980-96) will remind those present of the early struggles and resulting hubbub as SUNY New Paltz rallied its forces in support of the much- needed public higher education program for the region. “Engineering the Engineering Program: The College and Its Champions” will be the title of her remarks.
John Mack, chairman of Central Hudson Gas & Electric will deliver the keynote address titled, “The Omnibus Issue: Competitiveness.” Representatives from the College Council, the College Foundation, and the engineering department will deliver brief remarks, as will New Paltz Middle School seventh grader Cara Merriman who was one of many students to occupy the facility last spring when air quality problems created the need to temporarily shut down the Middle School.
Four years ago, in the fall of 1994, SUNY New Paltz decided to honor the Ellenville couple whose name is synonymous with generosity and community support, and to recognize their numerous gifts to the College by naming the future engineering facility after them. Not only had Louis and Mildred Resnick recently made the single largest donation in the history of the College, a one million dollar endowment to support the engineering program at SUNY New Paltz, but it was the latest in a long list of donations given to the College over more than a decade. In addition to half a dozen scholarship programs which they initiated, their generosity established the Resnick Distinguished Lecture Series in Jewish Studies, and the Resnick Institute for the Study of Modern Jewish Life.
On Thursday, Louis and Mildred Resnick will be presented with the President’s Medal, designed, modeled and fabricated by Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, an associate professor of art at SUNY New Paltz. This will be the first occasion that this new medal is awarded.
“The scholarships and fellowships, and the faculty and faculty-student research projects that their gifts have supported in the past are certain to benefit future generations and ensure a strong engineering program for many years to come,” said Roger W. Bowen. “The College is extremely fortunate and deeply grateful to have such a generous couple in its midst,” he added.
Following the formal program there will be a reception and tour of the laboratory facilities in the new Louis and Mildred Resnick Engineering Hall and the “renewed” engineering facilities in Wooster Science Building.
