Emerson Foundation elects Hamilton College president, Stewart, to its board

AUBURN, N.Y. — The Fred L. Emerson Foundation announced it has elected Joan Hinde Stewart, the soon-to-be-retired president of Hamilton College, to its board of directors.

“We are extremely pleased to have Joan Hinde Stewart join our board. Her experience as a distinguished leader in higher education and Upstate New York will greatly benefit the Emerson Foundation and our philanthropic work,” Anthony D. Franceschelli, president of the foundation, said in a news release. “As a family foundation, we know that it can be very beneficial to have independent directors who bring complementary skills and backgrounds to our board. We are grateful for Joan’s willingness to serve.”

Stewart has served as the president of Hamilton College since 2003 and has presided over a period of strong growth at the college. She will be retiring as president on June 30 and will be replaced by David Wippman.

Prior to Hamilton College, Stewart was dean of the College of Liberal Arts and professor of French at the University of South Carolina, and before that she was a faculty member at North Carolina State University from 1973 to 1999. Stewart received her Ph.D. from Yale University and her undergraduate degree from St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn.

“I am pleased and honored to join the board of the Emerson Foundation, whose exceptional philanthropy has long had, and continues to have, a profound effect on higher education and other priorities in the community and the region,” Stewart said in the release.

The Emerson Foundation is a private family foundation established in 1932 by Fred L. Emerson. The foundation supports nonprofits in Auburn and the surrounding Central New York area where its founder lived and worked.

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