The President's Annual Report 2001-2002: Message from the President

President Karen Hitchcock

Message from the President

In our brand new Boor Sculpture Studio, you’ll find campus artists working with clay, wood, steel and other materials to give shape to their visions, while across campus, at our Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics, you’ll find very different visions taking shape.

The work under way in these two extraordinary but very different places exemplifies the remarkable breadth of UAlbany today and our vision for tomorrow.

Across our many disciplines, faculty and students are engaged in discovery and learning that is deepening our understanding of human life and culture and helping to shape a better world. We know the critical role that research plays in creating new opportunities for our students and the new knowledge so essential to advancing the quality of life in our region, state and nation. The discovery and learning at the very heart of our University does, indeed, transform our world.

My report in the pages ahead highlights major developments in 2001-2002, and our progress in building excellence in our academic programs to achieve our strategic goals.

We’ve attracted more high-quality students, developed curricular initiatives tailored for a changing world, and enhanced our faculty ranks. In countless ways, we are partners with the communities we serve, ranging from efforts to plan “aging-friendly”communities to celebrating the 350th birthday of UAlbany’s hometown, the City of Albany.

We are dramatically expanding UAlbany’s physical dimensions to achieve our goals. This September, not only did we open our new Boor Sculpture Studio, but we also welcomed 800 students to our new apartment-style housing, Empire Commons. Both are designed to strengthen our campus living and learning environment.

Across Fuller Road from Empire Commons, a major expansion of our Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management is under way to support our programs in nanoelectronics, nanotechnology and advanced materials. Indeed, Governor George Pataki’s announcement July 18 that International SEMATECH North was coming to our Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics, a partnership between New York State and industry, has received international attention.

We are also strategically building our strength in life sciences, an effort that received yet another boost when Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno announced Sept. 19 that UAlbany will receive $22.5 million in state funding to build a Center of Excellence in cancer genomics on our East Campus.

We’ve achieved success only through the support of tremendous partners, and we highlight their contributions in our “Honor Roll of Donors” enclosed in this issue of UAlbany magazine. We are so very grateful for the support of so many who are helping shape our bold vision for the future.

Karen R. Hitchcock
November 2002