Distinguished Speaker Series

Senior correspondent for PBS’ The NewsHour and host of Destination Casa Blanca on HITN TV, Ray Suarez, spoke to approximately 500 people on April 7, 2011 at the SUNY New Paltz Athletic & Wellness Center. His topic, Lessons from Adversity: Strengthening Preparedness with Reflections from 9/11, was very well received as he recounted his 9/11 experience and how it centered around the media coverage. The session was followed by an engaging Q&A session and booksigning from Mr. Suarez's latest works: The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America and The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration.

Read his complete bio (PDF)

Highlights from Ray Suarez event, April 7, 2011

On November 12, 2008 SUNY New Paltz kicked off their inaugural Distinguished Speaker Series, which features well known speakers twice every academic year.

The goal of the Distinguished Speaker Series is to connect community members, alumni, friends, faculty, staff, students and their families with well-known authors, policy makers and leaders, scientists, media experts, business people, and other luminaries, on our campus. The college received a generous gift from a donor to underwrite part of this series on campus.

To date, The Distinguished Speaker Series has featured:

Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist and best-selling author, Dave Barry

Newsweek's Jonathan Alter

Newark, NJ Mayor, Cory Booker

Award winning author and novelist, Tobias Wolff

Fiction writer memoirist and essayist, John Edgar Wideman

Thank you to our Current and Past Sponsors:

Peter and Helena Bienstock/Shawangunk Valley Conservancy, Campus Auxiliary Services, Central Hudson, Chronogram Magazine, Citizens Bank, SUNY New Paltz Institute for Disaster Mental Health, Empire State Bank, HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, Key Bank, Mid Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union, M&T Bank, Sobel Media, SUNY New Paltz Composition Program, Ulster Savings Bank, WAMC.

Thank you to Greater Talent Network for providing many of our speakers.

For more information on sponsorship opportunities and tickets, please contact:
Lisa Sandick, Special Events Coordinator
SUNY New Paltz Foundation
(845) 257-3972
sandickl@newpaltz.edu