SUNY New Paltz should evolve to meet the challenges of a post-Great Recession America, and it can do so stressing educational quality, selective admissions and cross-disciplinary thinking, newly inaugurated collage President Donald P. Christian told his audience last weekend.

“I tip my hat to the seven past presidents of the modern college at New Paltz,” Christian said. “My aim is to build on your legacy and to leave this great college even greater than it is today.”

The university’s eighth president said he’d built his vision for the future of SUNY New Paltz based on what he’d heard from the people around him -- the professors and students who love their school. The college must continue to leverage its strengths, including its acceptance, tolerance and diversity.