MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – Elinor Hart, a passionate advocate for education and land preservation, was sworn in as the newest member of the SUNY Orange Board of Trustees on Wednesday (Nov. 20), having been appointed to the Board by Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus.

A resident of Blooming Grove, Hart was administered the oath of office by Board Chair Tom Weddell. Her appointment runs through June 30, 2031.

“I would like to thank County Executive Neuhaus and the legislature for my appointment to the SUNY Orange Board of Trustees. I am honored to serve alongside the other dedicated members of this board and support the administration in advancing SUNY Orange’s vision of strengthening our community and transforming lives through education.”

 Presently, Hart holds board membership on the Wild Woods Restoration Project in Salisbury Mills, a non-profit dedicated to restoring native woodlands, as well as the Orange County Planning Board. She is chair of the Garden Club of Orange and Dutchess Counties’ Horticulture Committee and serves as lead for that group’s Newburgh Free Academy West/Downing Park collaboration. She is chair of the Blooming Grove Community Preservation Committee and is a past secretary of the Hudson Highlands Nature Center’s Board of Trustees and is presently on the Center’s Education Committee.

Previously, she has served on the Orange County Climate Resilience Planning Advisory Committee, the Orange County Land Trust (vice president); and the Blooming Grove Conservation Advisory Commission. From 2009 to 2015, she was a counselor and coach for the Taft Elementary School Girls Running Club.

Hart earned bachelor’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology and business management from Moravian University in Bethlehem, Pa., and her master of education degree in secondary school counseling from Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pa.