SUNY New Paltz administrators and notable regional and state officials gathered on Sept. 30 to christen The Benjamin Center for Public Policy Initiatives at SUNY New Paltz (formerly the Center for Research, Regional Engagement and Outreach, or CRREO) and pay homage to the contributions of Dr. Gerald Benjamin.
“It is an extraordinary honor for me to be recognized in this way at the college that I love, and have had the great good fortune to serve for almost 50 years,” said Benjamin, the Center’s founding director, associate vice president for regional engagement at the College and SUNY distinguished professor.
“The naming we celebrate here today is of course great recognition, for which I am profoundly grateful,” he said. “It is not an ending, but a great source of renewed energy and encouragement, to keep trying – with my colleagues and co-workers – to do what I set out to do so many years ago: make things better in New York, for New York.”
Assemblymember Kevin Cahill (D-Kingston) ’77 (Political Science), a long-time supporter of CRREO who recently helped secure a $250,000 grant to support its ongoing work, proclaimed his gratitude to Benjamin and for the work done by the Center that now bears his name.
“I feel fortunate to have learned so much from the foremost authority on New York State government, Gerald Benjamin,” Cahill said. “The lifelong course I’ve taken with Jerry has been the most important part of my continuing education. He is the go-to person who we all pay attention to. We are very lucky to have a person like Jerry Benjamin among us, and the future is very lucky to have a Center named for him, so that his inspiration can continue for generations to come.”
The renaming was officially announced by College President Donald P. Christian, who spoke to the significance of Benjamin’s career and the research findings produced by the Center he oversees.
“Dr. Gerald Benjamin is held in high esteem by his faculty and administrative colleagues, state and local government officials, other scholars, and thousands of students who have taken his courses,” said President Donald P. Christian. “Our goal with this renaming is to honor and recognize Dr. Benjamin’s contributions, to expand this kind of work and the positive influence it is having on regional and state governance and to help spawn the next generations of public intellectuals in Jerry’s mold.”
SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher was in attendance and offered her own perspective on the significance of this moment and of Benjamin’s body of work.
“I’m happy be here to testify to the wisdom of SUNY New Paltz in renaming CRREO, The Benjamin Center,” Zimpher said. “In 2009, when I arrived at the State University of New York, it didn’t take me long to learn that an architect of SUNY’s future, and the future of this great state, was at home in the person of Dr. Gerald Benjamin, a lifelong advocate for the intellectual role that public policy must play in state and local government and national and international policy.”
Other remarks were given by Hudson River Estuary Coordinator for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Francis F. Dunwell; Cetrino Family Scholarship recipient and former student of Benjamin William Raphaelson ’14 (Political Science); Mid-Hudson Regional Representative for Governor Andrew Cuomo Thomas Scaglione; Assemblymember Frank Skartados (D-Milton) ’85 (Political Science); Assemblymember Andrew Raia (R-East Northport) ’91 (Political Science); Carl Hayden, former chair of the SUNY Board of Trustees and assistant to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli; and Associate Director of The Benjamin Center KT Tobin, who spoke on behalf of Benjamin’s collective staff.
Originally founded in 2007 by Benjamin and then-President Steven Poskanzer, CRREO has conducted and published impactful applied research that has helped foster discussion of important issues and create well-informed paths to improve government and governance throughout the region.
For more information about The Benjamin Center at SUNY New Paltz visit www.newpaltz.edu/benjamincenter.
A short video elaborating on the Center’s work and its value to the region is available online.
Media coverage of the renaming of The Benjamin Center was provided by many New York and national outlets, including:
