Hamilton alumnus and life trustee Thomas Schwarz '66 will be formally inaugurated as the fifth president of Purchase College on Wednesday, Nov. 12. Purchase College is part of the State University of New York's (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges. Schwarz, who had been at Purchase College as interim president since January, 2002, served as acting president at Hamilton in 1999.
Schwarz was named interim president of Purchase in January, 2002. Previously he had a distinguished career as a partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where he was National Practice Leader of the Litigation Department. He was also the founding partner of the firm's Committee on Diversity.
In 1999, he served as Acting President at Hamilton where he worked with a wide array of constituencies to improve administrative and operational functions and to secure increased private and grant revenues.
Since arriving at Purchase, Schwarz has been praised for working enthusiastically with students, faculty and staff to achieve academic excellence and increased selectivity, has encouraged interdisciplinary study and collaboration, has improved communication and administrative leadership, and has attracted new resources for the institution.
Purchase College was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller who envisioned a major publicly funded university system. Purchase would uniquely combine on one campus conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with liberal arts and sciences programs. Purchase College is noted for its strong conservatory programs in Theater Arts & Film, Music, Dance, its School of Art + Design encompassing the full range of visual arts, and its accomplished faculty in Humanities, Social Science and Natural Sciences.
