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University at Albany, SUNY

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University at Albany,
State University of New York
University logo
SUNY Albany Seal
MottoSapientia et sua et docendi causa (Wisdom both for its own sake and for the sake of teaching)
TypePublic
Established1844
Academic staff
940
Students17,040
Undergraduates12,013
Postgraduates5,027
Location
Albany
,
NY
,
USA
CampusSuburban, 560 acres (2.3 km²)
Athletics24
ColorsPurple and gold
MascotGreat Dane
Websitewww.albany.edu

The University at Albany, State University of New York, commonly known as the University at Albany, is a public university located in the capital of New York State, and is the senior campus of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Founded in 1844, it is an internationally recognized public research institution, which carries out a broad mission of undergraduate and graduate education, research and service. UAlbany (its officially designated informal title) has three campuses: the Uptown and Downtown campuses in the City of Albany and one campus in the Town of East Greenbush, just east of Albany.

The University enrolls more than 17,000 students in ten schools and colleges, which offer 189 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degree programs. The University’s academic choices are diverse and include a range of new and emerging fields such as public policy, nanotechnology, globalization, documentary studies, biotechnology, and informatics. Students take advantage of more than 300 study-abroad programs, as well as extensive internship opportunities that offer real-world experience in New York’s capital and surrounding region. The Honors College, which opened in fall 2006, offers opportunities for the best-prepared students to work closely with faculty.

University at Albany faculty attracted $240.9 million in research funding in 2006-2007 for work advancing discovery in a wide range of fields. The research enterprise is distinguished by established and emerging strengths in four areas: nanoscale sciences and engineering, social science and public policy, life sciences, and atmospheric sciences. A wide range of explorations in other areas also contributes to the rich spectrum of UAlbany research.

In addition to offering many cultural benefits, including a nationally-recognized contemporary art museum and a world-renowned writers institute, UAlbany plays a major role in the economic development of the Capital Region and New York State — particularly through its programs in nanosciences and nanotechnology and in the biotechnology and biomedical sciences. An economic impact study in 2004 estimated UAlbany’s economic impact to be $1.1 billion annually in New York State — $1 billion of that in the Capital Region.

Colleges and schools

The University comprises nine colleges and schools, plus an honors college:

College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences, comprising 23 departments, forms the largest academic division at the University.

Departments of the College of Arts and Sciences include Africana Studies, Anthropology, Art, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Classics, Communication, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, East Asian Studies, Economics, English, Geography and Planning, History, Judaic Studies, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies, Mathematics and Statistics, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Theatre, and Women's Studies. There are fifty-eight undergraduate majors offered in these areas, along with their paired minors and 17 other minors as well as a variety of cooperative interdisciplinary programs that include the arts, humanistic studies, physical sciences, and social sciences.

The College houses the following research centers: the Biological Imaging Center; Center for Applied Historical Research; Center for Astronomical Observatory; Center for Autism and Related Disabilities; Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities; Center for Language and International Communication; Center for Latino, Latin American and Caribbean Studies(CELAC); Center for Biochemistry and Biophysics; Center for Economic Research; Center for Jewish Studies; Center for Neuroscience Research; Center for X-Ray Optics; Econometrics Research and Training Institute; Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing Laboratory; Institute of Biomolecular Stereodynamics; Institute for Research on Women; Institute for Mesoamerican Studies; The Institute for Watershed Management; Ion Beam Laboratory; Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research; and the College-affiliated New York Latino Research and Resources Network (NYLARNet).

Graduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences in the humanities and fine arts, science and mathematics, social and behavioral studies, and college-based interdisciplinary majors lead to the following degrees and certificates: Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Regional Planning, Master of Fine Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Arts, Certificate of Advanced Standing, Certificate of Advanced Study, and the Certificate (in selected fields).

College of Computing and Information

The mission of the College of Computing and Information (CCI), created in 2005, is to support world-class, discipline-based research and educational programs related to computing and information. With its partnerships in the corporate, government and nonprofit sectors, the College provides expertise and collaboration efforts that benefit New York State and the nation.

CCI students take advantage of a research-based learning community that prepare them for careers in today’s Information Age ranging from leadership in the software industry, to information policymaking on the federal level, to school library media specialists in local school districts.

CCI has three integrated departments, which provide students with a broad view of how information is created, organized, stored, manipulated, packaged, retrieved and applied:

Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy

The Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, created in 1981, was named for former U.S. Vice President and Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller. It is home to UAlbany’s departments of Political Science and Public Administration and Policy.

The College has an enhanced interdisciplinary approach to its public policy mission, and provides educational preparation for academic and public service careers, to undertake research on significant public problems and issues, and to assist in the continuing professional development of government executives. It also offers appropriate assistance to the federal and New York State governments, as well as to foreign nations and international organizations, to meet the responsibilities of contemporary citizenship and governance. Such assistance includes special courses and conferences, research and consultation, and publications for the dissemination of information.

The College offers degree programs that range from bachelor's level study in political science and public policy, to master's programs in political science, public administration and public policy, to doctorates in political science and public administration. Research centers within the College include the Center for Legislative Development, the Center for Policy Research, the Center for Women in Government & Civil Society, and the Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research.

Several Rockefeller College programs consistently rank highly in the annual surveys of America’s Best Graduate Schools by U.S. News and World Report.

School of Business

UAlbany’s School of Business, accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, provides students of all ages and backgrounds with academic programs that build critical business management skills. Founded in 1970, the School quickly became recognized as one of the most comprehensive and academically competitive business schools in the Northeast. Its masters and doctoral programs draw students from all over the world by offering both full-time and part-time opportunities to earn a highly regarded advanced degree.

Bachelor of Science degrees are offered in business administration or accounting. Business administration majors concentrate in one of four fields — finance, marketing, information technology management, or management. Both accounting and business administration majors are 60-credit majors, as opposed to the normal 40-credit variety. Students are also permitted to combine concentrations. An excellent Financial Analyst program was created in the early 2000s.

Graduate programs are focused on the information age, because the School believes that the creative application of information systems is now essential for the effective growth, management and expansion of business. The MBA has at its core the design and application of information systems for business and industry as well as the generation and effective use of information. The tax and accounting programs emphasize the use of accounting as a decision support system that manages the flow of economic data to all parts of a business.

Overall, the School’s aggressive curriculum, modern classrooms and computer labs foster an interactive and "high tech" learning environment, and applied experiences in the form of relevant internships, on-site field projects with local and regional companies, and in-class projects/case studies that address the most topical business themes.

The School has a history of attaining high placement in meaningful positions with such top companies as Accenture, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Merrill Lynch.

School of Criminal Justice

UAlbany’s School of Criminal Justice is one of the nation’s premier programs in criminal justice, offering degrees on the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. The problem-centered interdisciplinary approach of its doctoral program was considered groundbreaking upon the School’s founding in 1966, and spurred what came to called “the Albany model” for other Ph.D. programs in major universities across the nation and the world.

The School concentrates on all aspects of crime and societal reactions to crime, including the political, economic and cultural patterns that influence policy choices on the response to certain categories of crime. A major focus of study is the social and personal forces that lead to criminal conduct and the analysis of the organization and operation of crime control systems. Particular emphasis is placed on the interactions among the many agencies which comprise criminal justice systems and on the relationships between these systems and other facets of society.

The School’s graduates have been highly successful in both academic and practical fields, including leadership in criminal justice research and teaching, all the operating agencies of criminal justice, and the many private and non-profit organizations which provide services or make policy recommendations.

School of Education

The legacy of the University at Albany began with devotion to the enhancement of education quality and practice. Founded as the New York Normal School of Teachers in 1844, the institution was the state's first public institution of higher learning, thriving as the Normal School until it expanded to become the New York State College for Teachers in 1914, and then, in 1962, the State University of New York at Albany.

The School of Education became a reality that year as part of a multi-disciplinary university center. It remained the home of the original teacher training programs and faculty, including, from 1845 until its closing in 1977, the Milne School, the University's campus laboratory school where prospective teachers carried out their practice teaching.

Since 1962, the School has also grown in size and scope, fulfilling its mission to foster enhanced learning and human development. It is home to 1,500 graduate students in more than 30 different master’s, certificate and doctoral degree programs housed within four departments: Educational Administration and Policy Studies, Educational and Counseling Psychology, Educational Theory and Practice, and Reading. Now offering only graduate-level degree programs, the School nonetheless provides a broad range of opportunities for undergraduates to explore the field of education.

The School is home to 15 different centers and institutes which aid Capital Region schools and research a broad range of the critical educational issues of our time. These include the School’s outreach arm, the Capital Area School Development Association, which provides services to 120 school districts; the Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities, which is funded by a three-year $1.24 million grant from the National Institutes of Health; the Center for Urban Youth and Technology; and the National Research Center on English Learning & Achievement, which since 1987 has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education to conduct research dedicated to improving students’ English and literacy achievement.

College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering

Created in 2003, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering is the first college in the world dedicated to research, development, education, and deployment in the emerging disciplines of nanosciences, nanoengineering, nanobioscience, and nanoeconomics. CNSE's Albany NanoTech complex – a $4.2 billion, 450,000-square-foot megaplex that has attracted more than 250 global corporate partners – is the most advanced research complex at any university in the world.

In May 2007, CNSE was ranked the number one college in the world for nanotechnology and microtechnology in the annual higher education ranking by Small Times magazine.

CNSE’s complex, also home to the New York State Center of Excellence in Nanomaterials and Nanoelectronics, is a fully-integrated research, development, prototyping, pilot manufacturing and education resource with a strategic portfolio of state-of-the-art laboratories, supercomputer and shared-user facilities and an array of research centers. Students and faculty work alongside scientists from industry on fundamental cutting-edge research underlying the real-world problems that most concern industry.

CNSE houses the only fully-integrated, 300mm wafer, computer chip pilot prototyping and demonstration line within 65,000 square feet of Class 1 capable cleanrooms. More than 2,000 scientists, researchers, engineers, students, and faculty work on site at the NanoTech complex; these include representatives from such corporate giants as IBM, AMD, SONY, Toshiba, Qimonda, Honeywell, ASML, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and Freescale.

An expansion currently underway will increase the size of the complex to more than 800,000 square feet, including over 80,000 square feet of Class 1 cleanroom space, to house more than 2,500 scientists, researchers, engineers, students, and faculty by mid 2009.

School of Public Health

The School of Public Health, created in 1985 as a unique partnership between the University at Albany and the New York State Department of Health. Its mission is to provide quality education, research, service, and leadership to improve public health and eliminate health disparities. Its operating vision includes designing solutions and developing models that lead the nation in addressing current and emerging public health challenges, through the creation of collaborative research, education, and practice activities.

Accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health, the School offers MPH, MS, DrPH, and PhD degrees in each of four academic departments: Biomedical Sciences; Environmental Health Sciences; Epidemiology & Biostatistics; and Health Policy, Management & Behavior.

Research interests of the more than 200 doctoral-level faculty include AIDS, GIS, maternal and child health, hospital epidemiology, infectious diseases, environmental and occupational health, eldercare, minority health and health disparities. Both research faculty and students benefit from additional affiliations with Albany Medical Center and Bassett Healthcare.

School of Social Welfare

The School of Social Welfare (SSW), created in 1965, boasts a faculty that consistently ranks among the top five schools of social work in the U.S. for research and scholarship and per capita productivity.

The School’s bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. programs in social work take advantage of collaborative practices and partnerships, both regionally and throughout the world. Recent linkages have included those with an Albany elementary school challenged by poverty, an outlier regional community comprising one of the largest Latino populations in the state, Hallym University in South Korea, and multiple partners in South African, South America, and western and eastern Europe.

Hallmarks of the School include its dedication in the area of gerontological social work, the creation of aging friendly communities, the improvement of pathways to higher education for inner city youth and families, the creation of family support agendas for the region, and re-professionalization campaigns in child welfare.

Special features of SSW include its NIDA-funded Child Welfare, Drug Abuse, and Intergenerational Risk Research Center and its centers for aging, which include the Institute of Gerontology, the Center for Excellence in Aging Services, and the Internships in Aging Program. Other special features include the Center for Human Services Research, the Social Work Education Consortium — which addresses child welfare and welfare workforce development and research — and the T.E.C.H. Center, devoted to aiding the development of electronic communication capacity within human service agencies.

The Honors College

UAlbany’s newest academic entity welcomed its first student in Fall 2006, an outgrowth of a strategic plan begun in 2003. The mission was to create a “small college experience” by fostering and encouraging the creation of closely-knit cohorts of like-minded, motivated students. The Honors College was also envisioned as a vehicle to increase faculty-student interaction early in a student’s tenure at the University.

The foundation of UAlbany’s Honors College comprises coursework, research, internships, and field-placements. All involve intense collaborations among students and professors. Rather than having a small number of professors teach an honors curriculum, professors from across the UAlbany campus teach honors courses in many disciplines. During the 2006/07 and 2007/08 academic years, 46 professors have or will offer a course in The Honors College.

During their first two years, honors students at UAlbany explore this range of disciplines through six or more honors courses. During their next two years, students move into the honors program in their major. Throughout their time at UAlbany, students of The Honors College are offered special lectures, tours, retreats to Camp Dippikill (see Miscellaneous below), and other trips to expand their learning opportunities, while social events provide the students with fun time to get to know each other better.

Libraries

The University at Albany Libraries provide more than two million volumes, and rank among the top 100 research libraries in the U.S., according to the Association of Research Libraries. Users from around the world access services and collections through the libraries' online systems and Web site. The University's libraries offer a program of information literacy and user education with instruction that ranges from a focus on traditional bibliographic access to collaborative classes integrated into the curriculum.

Research Centers

Atmospheric Sciences Research Center

The Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (ASRC), based at UAlbany, is SUNY’s leading center for research in the atmospheric sciences. Established on February 16, 1961, by the Board of Trustees, its mission is to promote and encourage programs in basic and applied sciences, especially as they relate to the atmospheric environment. The Center is connected to and shares faculty and resources with the University's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

ASRC performs research to study the physical and chemical nature of the atmosphere and its implications to the environment. Current research areas include boundary layers, solar radiation, radiative transfer, atmospheric chemistry, aerosol physics, air quality, solar energy, cloud physics, climate systems, and air quality monitoring. In addition the Center has a large "jungle research group" exploring atmosphere and biosphere relationships in Amazonia, the Alaskan Tundra, the Canadian Boreal Forest, and the eastern U.S.

The Climate System Sciences Section] of ASRC, started in November 1989, conducts research to understand the Earth's global and regional climate system and to assess and evaluate the effects of climate change caused by both human activities and nature.

The Center for Social and Demographic Analysis

UAlbany’s Center for Social and Demographic Analysis] (CSDA) was established in 1981 to provide a strong research infrastructure for scholarship in the social sciences at the University at Albany. CSDA has since become the nexus for further investments by University administration and a variety of state and federal agencies. Positioned by these developments, CSDA officially joined the roster of NICHD Population Centers in September of 1997.

Over the years, CSDA has increasingly emphasized support for interdisciplinary population research, especially the analysis of spatial inequalities (paying attention to processes of urban and regional development and their impacts on residents) and concerns for vulnerable populations (defined by race and ethnicity, age, social class, and nativity). The Center offers researchers access to first-rate computing facilities and statistical software, computing and statistical consulting, assistance with grant preparation and administration, and other related services. It also collaborates with the Lewis Mumford Center — the University’s 18-year-old institute devoted to urban research — in efforts to disseminate data and fresh analyses of population trends revealed in the census and continuing census-related databases such as the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey.

CSDA currently has 41 faculty associates drawn from 15 departments that span the array of academic disciplines at the University. Among major research initiatives sponsored by the Center is the Urban China Research Network (funded by the Mellon Foundation), which brings together scholars and graduate students from around the world to study implications of urban change in China. New collaborative projects include initiatives on health disparities and the environmental impacts of metropolitan growth.

Rankings

UAlbany was ranked 66th nationally among the 100 Best Values in Public Colleges by Kiplinger’s magazine in 2008 for in-state students, and 28th for out-of-state students. According to the publication, listed institutions are “noteworthy for their combination of top-flight academics and affordable costs.”

The University in 2007 ranked 77th nationally in NSF-funded research, just behind Carnegie Mellon University.[1] UAlbany has neither medical nor engineering schools, making its NSF-funded profile particularly noteworthy. When medical and engineering schools are excluded, it ranks 38th nationally in NSF-funded research.

The Chronicle of Higher Education ranks UAlbany doctoral programs in criminal justice, educational administration, and social welfare in its "Top 10" nationally in their respective disciplines.

UAlbany ranked 45th worldwide among universities in the social sciences in 2006 by the [Institute of Higher Education], [Shanghai Jaio Tong University], [Shanghai, China].


Other Leading Program Rankings and sources:

  • Criminal Justice - #2 (US News 2006)
  • School of Education
    • Educational Administration - #7 (Academic Analytics 2006)
    • Reading — #2 (Academic Analytics 2007)
    • Curriculum and Instruction -- #10 (Academic Analytics 2007)
    • Educational Evaluation and Research — #10 (Academic Analytics 2007)
    • Counseling/Personnel Services — #17 (Academic Analytics 2007)
  • Social Welfare - #5 (Academic Analytics 2006)
  • Information Technology and Management - #2 (US News 2009)
  • Educational and Counseling Psychology - #13 (US News 2006)
  • Africana Studies - #3 (Black Issues in Higher Education July 2004)
  • Public Affairs - #14 (US News 2009)
  • Public Administration and Management - #8 (US News 2009)
  • Public Finance and Budgeting - #7 (US News 2009)
  • Public Policy Analysis - #22 (US News 2009)
  • Non-Profit Management - #18 (US News 2009)
  • Clinical Psychology - #43 (US News 2009)
  • Sociology - #25 (US News 2005)
    • Sociology of Population - #19 (US News 2005)
    • Sociology of Sex and Gender - #13 (US News 2005)
  • Library Science & Information Studies - #23 (US News 2006)
  • Archives and Preservation — #9 (US News 2006)
  • Nanoscience and Engineering - #1 overall (ahead of #2 Cornell), #3 Michigan-Ann Arbor, #4 Rice, #5 University of Pennsylvania, and #6 Virginia (''Small Times'' magazine)
  • Atmospheric Sciences - #22 R&D Expenditures (NSF, 2006)

Campuses

Uptown Campus

The front of UAlbany's Uptown Campus, overlooking Collins Circle

The Uptown Campus, the University’s main campus, is located at 1400 Washington Ave. and has been described as “a distinctive work of modern art.” Designed in 1961-62 by renowned American architect Edward Durell Stone (1902-1978), the campus bears Stone’s signature style of bold unified design, expressed by its towers, domes, fountains, soaring colonnades and sweeping canopy. The result is dramatically different from traditional university campuses with dispersed buildings and disparate architectural styles. The campus exemplifies the signature style Stone used in his major projects between 1954 and 1970, including the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India; the Hotel Phoenicia in Beirut, Lebanon; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York; and the Aon Center, originally the Standard Oil Building, in Chicago.

Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller envisioned a public university system to accommodate the college students of the post-World War II “Baby Boom’’, and as a connoisseur and patron of modern art and architecture, he encouraged many of the era’s leading modernist architects to design the campuses. Inspired by this vision and the need for a new campus accommodating 7,500 students, Stone viewed the Albany project as a powerful statement concerning the integrated nature of campus life, with facilities for learning and living all part of a unified complex comprising activities and academic. Stone’s campus composition emphasizes residential quadrangles, or “quads” — surrounding academic buildings. The quads, four large towers, each surrounded by a square of low-rise buildings, create self-contained residential environments, mimicking the residential college atmosphere of traditional European universities. At the hub of the campus is the rectangular “Academic Podium” featuring 13 three-story buildings under a single overhanging canopy roof. The Podium’s showpiece is a central pool with fountains and an off-center circular tower, or “Carillon.” The domed Main Library, the Performing Arts Center, Campus Center surround the pool, reflecting facets of campus life. A grand entrance welcomes visitors by way of a “great lawn” (Collins Circle) and an entry plaza.

On the west end of the Uptown Campus is the Albany Nanotech complex, begun in the late 1990s, still expanding, and home to the College of Nanoscale Sciences and Engineering (see above), the bulk of UAlbany’s metrology and characterization tools, the National Weather Service (NWS), and the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (ASRC).

In addition to the Main Library, the Uptown Campus is home to the newest of the three libraries comprising UAlbany's University Libraries: the Science Library, opened in September 1999.

Uptown Campus Housing

The Uptown Campus is home to six of the University's seven residential complexes. Four of these — Indian Quad, Dutch Quad, Colonial Quad, and State Quad — sit at the Academic Podium's corners; each consists of eight three-story, low-rise buildings encircling a 22-story tower with a total capacity of 1,200 students each. The four quads serve as a chronological timeline of New York State history, beginning with Indian Quad, moving clockwise to Dutch, then Colonial, and finally, State. The other two, Freedom Apartments and Empire Commons, are reserved for juniors and seniors. These are "apartment-style" residences and include kitchens, furnished living rooms, and, on Empire Commons, washers, dryers, dishwashers, single bedrooms, and central air conditioning.

The Uptown Campus also contains special housing for students in the honors college. This housing, offered to incoming freshmen and returning sophomores, is found on State Quad in the Melville and Steinmetz building. While providing moderately better rooms with improved lighting and greater floor space, the benefits of the housing are outweighed by the costs imposed by the honors program on students.

Downtown Campus

The Downtown Campus, located at 135 Western Ave., just one mile (1.6 km) from the New York State Capitol building and Empire State Plaza, is the site of the original New York State College for Teachers. Construction began in 1909 on the first three buildings: Draper, Husted and Hawley halls, after the previous location on Willett Street burned down. Later additions to the campus were Richardson Hall, Page Hall and The Milne School (all in 1929), along with additions to Draper and Richardson halls (both in the 1960s).

The Downtown Campus is home to the University's Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, School of Criminal Justice, College of Computing and Information, and School of Social Welfare. It also houses one of the University's three libraries, the Thomas E. Dewey Graduate Library, located in Hawley Hall.

Downtown Housing

Alumni Quad, one of the University's seven residential complexes, is a short distance away from the Downtown Campus. Its name commemorates the Alumni Association, which purchased most of the land on which the complex stands and funded the construction of the first two residence halls, Pierce and Sayles, which opened in 1935 and 1941. (Brubacher, Alden and Waterbury halls, which completed the quadrangle’s edifices, opened in 1951, 1958, and 1959, respectively.) Students living on Alumni are typically sophomores, transfer students and international students.

East Campus

The University’s 87-acre East Campus, located in East Greenbush, is home to UAlbany’s School of Public Health and the Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics, which opened in 2005. Located also on the campus — which contains 350,000 square feet of lab, support and associated office space — is the Center for Functional Genomics, which facilitates research in the areas of microarrays, proteomics, molecular biology and transgenics, and some 15 private biotechnology companies — both established and those which are part of the University’s business incubator program. Biopharmaceutical giant Regeneron has a large-scale biologics manufacturing facility adjacent to the campus where it produces the investigational products for all its clinical trials.

Event Facilities

Campus Center

The Campus Center, located on the Uptown Campus Podium, is the community center of the University at Albany, serving students, faculty, professional staff, alumni, and guests. Traditionally considered the "hearthstone" or "living room" of the campus, the Campus Center provides services and conveniences that include lounging areas, several cafeterias, a Barnes & Noble bookstore, and many national chain eateries. The multi-faceted structure is the site for numerous informal and formal interactions, the latter including the meetings of many student-run clubs, academic conferences, and cultural functions.

The Center’s Facilities & Operations staff coordinates and manages eight meeting rooms in all, as well as a ballroom. Together they comprise the conference portion of this multi-faceted facility. During the academic year, the Center’s meeting rooms host over 9,000 persons per month. The lobby and exterior areas of the building, the latter which commands a small fountain, are notable for the tabling done by individuals and groups; their purposes include ticket sales, craft items, other vending sponsored by campus organizations, political activism, charitable fundraising, and general campus information.

Performing Arts Center

The Performing Arts Center (PAC) is a spectacular facility on the main campus boasting five unique performance spaces, the PAC is a bustling hub of activity. Music, dance, theater, international artists, guest lecturers, and collaborations occur in the Main Theater, Recital Hall, Arena Theatre, Studio Theatre, and Lab Theatre. The Main Theatre is the largest theater space on the Uptown Campus holding 500 people. Designed for music performance, the Recital Hall seats 242 people, 197 on the orchestra level and 45 in the nine circular boxes on the second level of the auditorium. The Arena Theatre is used primarily for Theatre performances and acting classes and seats 196. The Studio Theatre seats 153 people. The Lab Theatre is a 50' square "black box" theater. The Lab can seat up to 200 audience members in any seating configuration.

Page Hall is a classic old proscenium theater located on the downtown campus of the University at Albany, at 135 Western Avenue. The auditorium has a total capacity of 830. 439 of those seats are located on the orchestra level and 391 and on the balcony level. Page Hall's excellent location, combined with its large seating capacity make it a favorite site for community events and performances. The film series of the New York State Writer's Institute is presented primarily at Page Hall.

Conference Facilities

The Science Library (LIE for Library Extension), University Hall (UNH), University Art Museum (UAM), Life Science Research Building (LSRB), Gen*NY*sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics (GCECG), NanoFab South (NFS), NanoFab North (NFN), Center for Environmental Science and Technology Management (CESTM), Alumni House, Chapel House and the Empire Commons Community Building all feature atriums, auditoriums, and/or meeting rooms of various sizes.

Athletics Facilities

The University's Athletics Facilities sport three of the largest interior event spaces. Opened in 1992, the SEFCU Arena is home to the men's and women's basketball teams. The 5,000-seat arena also serves as a major venue for community events, such as rock and pop concerts, sporting events and University activities. Adjacent to the SEFCU Arena is the Physical Education Building, which houses the University Gymnasium. It includes three full-size playing surfaces which can be used for basketball, volleyball, and tennis. UAlbany's air-supported structure, "The Bubble," was fitted with a brand new covering along with minor interior renovations in the spring of 2003. It is located to the east of the Physical Education Building.

History

The University at Albany began as the New York State Normal School on May 7, 1844, by vote of the State Legislature. Beginning with 29 students and four faculty in an abandoned railroad depot on State Street in the heart of the city, the Normal School was the first New York State-chartered institution of higher education.

Dedicated to training New York students as schoolteachers and administrators, by the early 1890s the “School” had become the New York State Normal College and, with a revised four-year curriculum in 1905, became the first public institution of higher education in New York to be granted the power to confer the bachelor's degree. A new campus — today, UAlbany’s Downtown Campus — was established in 1909 on a four and a half-acre site between Washington and Western avenues. By 1914, the institution was home to 556 students and 44 faculty members, it offered a master’s degree for the first time, and bore a new name — the New York State College for Teachers. Enrollments grew to more than 1,300 by the early 1930s.

In 1948 the State University of New York system was created, comprising the College for Teachers and several other institutions throughout the state. SUNY, including UAlbany, ultimately became a manifestation of the grand vision of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who wanted a public university system to accommodate the college students of the post-World War II baby boom. To do so, he launched a massive construction program that developed over 50 new campuses.

In 1962 the University at Albany was officially designated a doctoral-degree granting university center of SUNY. The same year, Rockefeller broke ground for the current Uptown Campus on the former site of the Albany Country Club. The new campus opened in 1966 and, by 1969, the University’s 125th anniversary, enrollment had grown to 10,000 and the faculty to nearly 700. The Uptown Campus, designed by architect Edward Durell Stone, accommodated this growth and gave the institution a new image befitting its broad liberal arts aspirations. The Downtown Campus became dedicated to the fields of public policy: criminal justice, public affairs, information science, and social welfare. In 1985, the University added the School of Public Health (see item above), a unique joint endeavor with the state’s Department of Health.

In 1983, the New York State Writers Institute was founded by Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Kennedy. As of 2007 the Institute had hosted well over 850 writers, poets, journalists, historians, dramatists, and filmmakers. The list includes eight Nobel Prize winners, nearly 200 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, several Motion Picture Academy Award winners and nominees, and numerous other literary prize recipients. In addition the Institute has hosted many up-and-coming writers to provide them with exposure at the beginning of their writing careers.

During the 1990s, national attention was paid to the University’s $3 billion, 450,000-square-foot Albany NanoTech complex, extending the Uptown Campus westward. By 2006, it became home to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (see item above). In 1996, a third campus — the East Campus — was added 12 miles east of the Uptown Campus in the County of Rensselaer, when the University acquired former Sterling-Winthrop laboratories and converted them into labs, classrooms and a business incubator concentrating on advances in biotechnology and other health-related disciplines. In 2005, the East Campus became home to the University’s Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics.

Growth occurred on the Uptown Campus in the fall of 2004, when a new Life Sciences Building opened, dedicated to basic research and education. In the spring of 2005, the University created the first-of-its-kind College of Computing and Information (see item above), with a stated goal of preparing students for the information technology-centric world of the 21st Century.

The effect of such growth in terms of faculty scholarship and research, as well as in increased linkages with government and business, could be seen in the University’s research expenditures, which, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, were $163.7 million — 23.9 percent higher than the previous year. (It rose to $175.4 million in 2006.) It also swelled UAlbany’s role in economic development. A 2004 study estimated the institution’s economic impact as $1.119 billion annually in New York State — $1.005 billion of that in the Capital Region.


Evolution

Name Period
State Normal School May 1844 – March 1890
New York State Normal College March 1890 – April 1914
New York State College for Teachers April 1914 – September 1959
State University of New York College of Education at Albany September 1959 – October 1961
State University College at Albany October 1961 – June 1962
State University of New York at Albany (the University's legal name) June 1962 – present
University at Albany, SUNY (common name) Fall 1986 – present

Presidents and Principals

Noted faculty

  • Manuel Alvar (deceased), head of the Spanish Royal Academy, world renowned for his linguistic atlases of Spain and Spanish South America.
  • Victor Asal, political science. Expert on terrorism and director of the Certificate Program in Public Security.
  • Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Spanish Novelist (1910-1999); at the university from 1966 to 1970; won Cervantes Prize in 1985.
  • Ronald A. Bosco, Distinguished University Professor of English & American Literature (2004), SUNY Distinguished Service Professor(1992). President, Association for Documentary Editing. General Editor, The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harvard; has edited, co-edited (primarily with Joel Myerson), and authored over 20 volumes on Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Michael Wigglesworth, and Cotton Mather.
  • Don Byrd, poet and literary critic. His works include his poetry collection Technics of Travel, the book-length poems The Great Dimestore Centennial and Aesop's Garden, an analysis of Charles Olson's Maximus, and his masterpiece of literary analysis The Poetics of the Common Knowledge.
  • Joachim Frank, computational biologist, School of Public Health, and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at New York State’s Wadsworth Center. Elected in 2006 to National Academy of Sciences and named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
  • Gordon G. Gallup, evolutionary psychologist; developed the mirror test.
  • Leonard Kastle director of The Honeymoon Killers and notable American opera composer Of Deseret, The Pariahs and others
  • William Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning professor. Kennedy taught creative writing and journalism as an instructor from 1974 to 1982 at the University. In 1983, Kennedy was awarded the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Part of that award went to UAlbany, which matched Kennedy's to create the New York State Writers Institute.
  • Michael J. Malbin, political science. Expert on campaign finance; former speech writer to Richard B. Cheney.
  • Jon Mandle, philosopher. Works on issues of political theory and global justice. Author of What's Left of Liberalism? An Interpretation and Defense of Justice as Fairness and Global Justice: An Introduction.
  • Ron McClamrock, philosopher. Works at the intersection of phenomenology and psychology. Author of Existential Cognition: Minds in the World.
  • Paul Pimsleur (deceased), linguist, educator and researcher of the language acquisition process. Author of Pimsleur Language Series.
  • Vincent Schaefer (deceased), founder and longtime director of the Atmospheric Science Research Center (ASRC); discovered the first successful method of cloud seeding, with dry ice.
  • Richard E. Stearns (emeritus), Turing award winner for computational complexity theory.
  • Bonnie Steinbock, philosopher. Noted expert on reproductive ethics. Former chair of philosophy department.
  • Bernard Vonnegut (deceased), atmospheric scientist renowned for his expertise in the physics of lightning. As a colleague of Vincent Schaefer at General Electric in 1946, discovered silver iodide method of cloud-seeding. Older brother of author Kurt Vonnegut.
  • Phyllis Galembo, Fine Art Photographer, known for photographing African Masquerades

Noted alumni

Student Association

The Student Association, or SA, is the UAlbany umbrella organization encompassing all student-oriented activities on campus. SA runs all concerts, comedy shows and intramural sports, and funds more than 250 students groups. The SA impacts students in the classroom as well, through funding of general education courses. Similar to the U.S. government, SA consists of 3 branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.[5]

The Student Association owns an 850-acre (3.4 km²) wilderness retreat facility in the Adirondack Mountains called Camp Dippikill. The cabins and campsites at Dippikill are open to reservations from the University’s undergraduates, graduate students, alumni, faculty and staff.

Athletics

File:AlbanyGreatDanes.png
Albany Great Danes logo
Main article: Albany Great Danes

University at Albany intercollegiate athletics date back to the late 1890s, but its development was hampered for several decades by inadequate facilities, by uncertain financial support, and the relatively small number of male students in an institution designed to develop elementary school teachers. Tennis remained a constant from 1898 on and men’s basketball dates back to 1909, but attempts to field teams in football (1922), baseball (1896-1901), swimming and hockey were aborted. Expansion into men’s and women’s sports increased after World War II, and then expanded greatly in the 1960s (men’s sports of lacrosse, track & field, cross-country and swimming moved from club to varsity status, and women’s tennis, softball, field hockey, basketball and swimming were introduced), a direct result of the introduction of the new Uptown Campus (see item above) and its expanded athletic facilities. A nickname change also occurred, the Pedagogues becoming the Great Danes — making UAlbany the only American college or university with that mascot.

After the 1972 NCAA restructuring, UAlbany competed in Division III athletics until the 1995-96 school year, when it moved to the Division II level as part of a transition to Division I competition. That process was completed in the fall of 1999; UAlbany now has 19 varsity sports (8 men, 11 women) competing at the Division I level. All athletic programs are run by the University’s Department of Athletics and Recreation.

In the history of University at Albany sports, two names have stood out most prominently: men’s basketball coach Richard “Doc” Sauers and football coach Robert Ford. Sauers, one of the winningest coaches in the history of college basketball with 702 victories, led the UAlbany men's basketball program to eleven NCAA and four NAIA post-season tournament appearances between 1955 and 1997. His teams averaged more than 17 wins per season, and had but one losing campaign.

Ford, who has been UAlbany's only head coach since the football program was reinstated after a 46-year absence in 1970, has compiled a 35-year varsity record of 216-139 as the Great Danes mentor. This includes the 2007 campaign, in which his Danes captured their third Northeast Conference championship by going undefeated in league play and made a Gridiron Classic postseason appearance. His 225 career victories rank second among active NCAA Football Championship Subdivision head coaches. Honored in 2005 by the 69th Maxwell Awards for recording his 200th career win, in his career he has been named Northeast Conference Coach of the Year, Gordon White- Herschel Nissenson Division II Coach of the Year, and Eastern Football Conference Coach of the Year.

Other than the sport of football, the school’s teams have been members of the America East Conference since 2001. Football participates in the Football Championship Subdivision level (formerly Division I-AA) as an associate member of the Northeast Conference.

In addition to varsity sports, UAlbany competes in many sports at the club level.

Fight song

Purple and gold,

your colors shining through
Hear as the carillons
are ringing true
The State of New York
sends up its cheer to you
Let’s go Albany!

Hail, young and old

We shall prevail,
purple and gold
One true triumphant call
Albany Danes are standing tall

Purple and gold,

our flags are waving high,
sending our victory song
into the sky
All of the world will fear
our mighty cry
Let’s go Albany!

UAlbany Alma Mater

College of the Empire State,
Mother of an army great,
Thou the molder of our fate,
Thee we sing today.
Thine the hand with clasp so strong,
Holding tho' the years be long,
Thou the burden of our song,
Thee we sing today.

Ways of pleasantness are thine,
Leading where in wisdom's shrine,
Joy and cheer, and hope divine,
Ever dwell for aye.
Thine the voice whose call we hear,
Thine the hand which holds us near,
Thine the heart, so true, so dear,
Cherished, loved alway.

Wisdom's duty heeds thy call,
Ever in Minerva's thrall,
Pass the torch from one to all,
Guide each destiny.
'Neath the Purple and the Gold,
Let thy history unfold,
Sons and daughters, young and old,
Long live the struggle strong
Hail to Albany.

UAlbany Traditions

Traditional Fountain Day Celebration at UAlbany's Uptown Campus
  • The school's colors are purple and gold.
  • Fountain Day is UAlbany’s annual rite of spring when the main fountain on the Academic Podium is turned on for the season. This event draws a huge cross-section of the University Community, gathering students, faculty, and staff for an afternoon of festivities. Fountain Day began in 1978 as Human Awareness Potential day. The University President is usually on hand to preside over the ceremony and countdown to the turning on of the fountains. In recent years, Fountain Day has been shaped into a carnival-esque atmosphere complete with beach balls, rubber ducks, free caricatures, free massages, fried dough vendors, music, contests, giveaways, and more fun!
  • The Big Purple Growl is the annual winter homecoming. The Ferocious Feast kicks off the festivities with lots of great food and fun. The Growl usually features a doubleheader with both the women’s and men’s basketball teams playing home at the SEFCU Arena. Beginning in 1997, this annual event is an exciting fun-filled, spirited day for all members of the University community.
  • On the University seal is Minerva, the Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom. But because Minerva was also identified with the Greek goddess Athena, she was known as the goddess of war and victory as well. This famous statue was purchased in 1888 and rescued by Charles Wurtham (a custodian) from a devastating fire in the Normal College’s administrative offices. This seven-foot, white plaster landmark of the University at Albany is on display in the Science Library foyer on the Uptown Campus. While there is no official record of where the statue of Minerva came from, it is reported that it was purchased with funds from a $1 student fee collected for make-up exams.
  • UAlbany is home to one of the oldest independent college newspapers in the nation, the Albany Student Press, commonly know as “The ASP.” Born as the State College News and published continuously since 1916, the newspaper has a circulation of more than 10,000 and serves student body and the surrounding community.
  • The University has hosted the Relay For Life, an American Cancer Society Benefit, the last four years. In April 2008, more than 1,200 students, faculty, and community members participated. In 2007, UAlbany student John Lowery raised more money online -- more than $25,000 -- for Relay than any other college student in the country. Lowery, who won a national award from the American Cancer Society, lost a cousin to bone cancer.

Notes

The Ualbany Fund is UAlbany's primary fund raiser.

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