Former College President Returns to SUNY Plattsburgh to Speak on Local Philanthropist

• by SUNY Plattsburgh

PLATTSBURGH, NY (01/26/2010)(readMedia)-- Former SUNY Plattsburgh President Joseph Burke is returning to campus to discuss his new book about one of the leading philanthropists in the North Country.

Burke's presentation on "William H. Miner and the Making of the American Century" will take place Monday, Feb. 8, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Alumni Conference Room in Angell College Center on the SUNY Plattsburgh Campus.

Orphaned at age 10, William Miner, grew up on a small homestead near Chazy, N.Y., and went west to make his fortune on the railroad. He climbed from bridge carpenter to creator of a leading railroad appliance company in Chicago.

When he and his wife lost their only child, Miner returned to Chazy. There he transformed the old Miner homestead into a 15,000-acre farm and built a famous rural school, a state-of-the-art hospital and hydroelectric dams, bringing electricity to the area. Though Miner has since passed away, his legacy lives on through the foundation that still funds the school, the hospital, and an agricultural research institute on the farm.

Burke is currently a senior fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Previously, he served for 12 years as president of SUNY Plattsburgh, and for nine as provost. He spent a year as chancellor of the State University of New York system.

Burke has a long connection to the creations of Miner, serving as chair of the William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute board and trustee of the foundation, which provides funds to the Chazy Rural School, CVPH Medical Center and the Miner Institute.

The presentation will be followed by a book signing.

This event is sponsored by the President's Office at SUNY Plattsburgh.