Helen Burmaster Helen R. Burmaster

Assistant Director, New York State Department of Health Division of Family Health, Fiscal Unit
The Sage Colleges, Troy and Albany, New York
History and Secondary Education, 1978

My culture was one of house and home. Russell Sage allowed me to think beyond those traditional roles.

Growing up in the Bronx, Helen Rodriguez Burmaster so wanted to attend college that she took matters into her own hands. “I would tell my parents I was going somewhere else and then I would catch a bus to visit colleges,” she says with a laugh. One day, she caught the bus to Troy to visit Russell Sage College.

Russell Sage College turned out to be the perfect choice. A private, comprehensive, undergraduate college for women, and now one of The Sage Colleges, the campus integrates liberal arts and career-focused study. “I wasn’t sure early on how the college would react to someone who didn’t fit a typical mold,” says Ms. Burmaster, “but my initial fears of not belonging were quickly shattered.”

The summer before entering Sage, she joined other young women in a program at the college called the Academic Opportunity Consortium, made up of students receiving state support. “HEOP and TAP funding were literally the only way I could have afforded to go to school. My parents had no resources or assets to pay for college. No one in my family had ever even applied to college,” Ms. Burmaster explains.

She did go to college, though, the first in her family, graduating with a bachelor of arts in history and secondary education. Her career path took a slightly different twist from her academic major — beginning with her first job she has assisted the underserved in New York State, particularly in public health.

Today, in her position with the state Department of Health, Helen oversees contracts for programs aimed at improving the health of women, children, and adolescents. She also supervises the reimbursement of direct service claims for the department’s Early Intervention Program, Physically Handicapped Children’s Program, and American Indian Health.

Helen has remained connected with Russell Sage College since the day she graduated. Most recently, she is encouraging young women to attend The Sage Colleges. “Colleges have an obligation to serve a diverse population,” she says. “I like the idea of appealing to young women who could benefit from the same advantages I had.”