Chancellor Malatras Announces New Officers-in-Charge at SUNY Old Westbury and SUNY Empire State College Campuses
August 27, 2020
Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Teresa Miller to Lead Old Westbury; President Calvin Butts to Leave After More Than 20 Years of Service
SUNY Empire State College Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Operating Officer Beth Berlin to Become Officer in Charge
Headshot are Available Online for Dr. Miller and Beth Berlin
Albany – State University of New York Chancellor Jim Malatras announced today the appointments of officers-in-charge at SUNY's Old Westbury and Empire State College campuses. Dr. Teresa A. Miller, SUNY Senior Vice Chancellor of Strategic Initiatives and Chief Diversity Officer, will begin as officer-in-charge of SUNY Old Westbury on September 1st, after President Calvin O. Butts III leaves campus following more than 20 years of service. SUNY Empire State College Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Operating Officer Beth Berlin will lead the campus as officer-in-charge.
SUNY Old Westbury
"Dr. Teresa Miller's commitment to diversity and depth of experience as a professor and a leader on campus and at SUNY system administration will benefit the SUNY Old Westbury community during their leadership transition and as campus begins the fall 2020 semester," said Chancellor Malatras. "As a member of SUNY's leadership team as campus reopening plans were reviewed, Dr. Miller is well aware of the planning that has enabled campuses to resume classes and is prepared to make additional changes to keep our students and the communities we serve safe."
"President Butts has led a rebuilding of SUNY Old Westbury both in growing enrollment with an increasingly diverse student body, and in renewing the campus infrastructure," said Chancellor Malatras. "And, more importantly, he has inspired a generation of students passing through Old Westbury to earn their degree and has created of culture of community service. We thank him for his years of service to SUNY."
Dr. Miller will serve as SUNY Old Westbury officer-in-charge as the search for a permanent president nears completion.
Dr. Miller serves on SUNY's senior leadership team as Senior Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Chief Diversity Officer, which she will continue to serve during the SUNY Old Westbury leadership transition. In this role, she works on the leadership and direction of strategic initiatives and sets the goals and expectations for diversity and inclusion across SUNY and its campuses. She also leads PRODiG, designed to increase diversity amongst faculty ranks and guide campus hiring.
She has a wealth of experience in leading diverse teams of individuals and coordinating university-wide strategies that ensure diversity, equity, and inclusion. Dr. Miller joined SUNY System Administration from the University at Buffalo (UB) where she served as a longtime member of the faculty at the UB Law School, earning her tenure and a promotion to the rank of full professor of law. She also served as the University's Chief Diversity Officer and Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence.
Empire State College
"Beth is an experienced educational leader who has immersed herself in the operations of SUNY Empire, a distributed college with 16,000 students and locations in every region of the state," said Chancellor Malatras. "She has my trust and the trust of the college community to continue to extend SUNY Empire's unique, flexible, and adaptable model of higher education to more students around New York state and beyond. I look forward to working closely with her and SUNY Empire as we move the SUNY system forward."
The SUNY Empire College Council will begin planning a presidential search immediately.
Berlin brings extensive experience in education leadership, having served since 2013 as executive deputy commissioner of NYSED, before being named interim commissioner in 2019. She also previously served as acting commissioner in 2015. In that role, she managed the day-to-day operations of the Education Department, overseeing more than 700 school districts with 3.2 million students. She joined SUNY Empire in December 2019.
Berlin previously served as executive deputy commissioner of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and as commissioner of the Department of Social Services in Albany County.
About the State University of New York
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit suny.edu.
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