SUNY professor awarded research residency grant to use Albany archive

NEW PALTZ — Rose Rudnitski, Ph.D., associate professor of elementary education at SUNY New Paltz, has been selected as one of 14 Larry J. Hackman Research Residency recipients from the New York State Archives Partnership Trust for the 2002-2003 grant cycle.

Rudnitski’s research project is titled, “Extending the Blessings: The Complex and Uncertain Evolution of Indian Public Education and the New York State Education Department.” She will utilize the archives in the New York State Education Department’s Division of Indian Education.

“The archive was suspended, but definitely there’s a lot of stuff in there and the residency will let me focus,” Rudnitski said about the inactive archive. “My main concern is finding the information.”

Of particular interest to Rudnitski is finding information on what types of leadership existed for the support and promotion of American Indian education in New York state, and if that support was appropriate and equal to other citizens. Also, she will look for documentation of an incident known as the “Salmon River Uprising,” a historical event when American Indians boycotted against school districts for not permitting them to serve on the education boards. “This is a policy that hasn’t been studied at all,” Rudnitski said.

Dean of the School of Education, Robert Michael, said that he is proud of Rudnitski’s work. “I am impressed that Dr. Rudnitski obtained this grant and we will be supporting her in any way we can,” he said.

Rudnitski has been the coordinator of the K-12 reading masters program since she arrived at SUNY New Paltz in 1992. Recently, she moved to the Department of Educational Administration, where her focus is on curriculum leadership, supervision and staff development.

Rudnitski, who served as the presiding officer of the faculty at New Paltz from the spring of 1998 to the fall of 2002, received her doctorate from Columbia University in 1991 and resides in New Paltz.

The New York State Archives Partnership Trust is a public/private partnership created in 1992 to increase public awareness of state archives and to address its 350-year backlog of archival work.

The residency program honors former New York state archivist, Larry J. Hackman, who oversaw the dramatic development of the state archive from 1981-1995. The program provides awards to individuals who utilize state archival holdings for project-related research in such areas as history, law, public policy, geography and culture. Grant amounts vary depending on the nature of research involved. Rudnitski was awarded $1,000.