SUNY chancellor to visit Old Westbury campus, NCC

Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson, leader of the State University of New York, will visit SUNY Old Westbury and Nassau Community College on Thursday as she continues her tour of the state’s 64-campus system.

Johnson, who took the reins from former chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, plans to take part in a commencement-related celebration in the morning with the president of SUNY Old Westbury, the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, according to her public schedule.

In the afternoon, she is scheduled to tour Nassau Community College with its president, W. Hubert Keen.

Johnson also plans to meet students and faculty at each campus.

During earlier trips to the Island in her official capacity, Johnson has visited Farmingdale State College, Stony Brook University and Suffolk County Community College.

Johnson is an engineer, entrepreneur and inventor who helped develop technology for 3D imaging.

When she was named SUNY’s 13th chancellor after an international search, she was founder and chief executive of Cube Hydro Partners LLC, which operates hydroelectric generation facilities on rivers in five states, including New York. Currently, she is a senior adviser to the company.

She served as undersecretary of energy with the U.S. Department of Energy during the Obama administration from 2009 to 2010. Before that, she was provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Johns Hopkins University, dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University, and professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

With this trip to Long Island, Johnson is nearly halfway through her tour of the SUNY system, a spokeswoman said.