EVENTS

Bus Trip to America East Basketball Conference Tournament Set
There is still time to register for the Alumni Association bus trip to the America East Conference men's basketball tournament, March 3-4, at Boston University’s Agganis Arena. Bus seats and game tickets are available. The reservation deadline is Feb. 19. To register or for more information, visit our Web site or call (518) 442-3080.

California Bay Area Chapter Plans Wine Tour
The UAlbany Bay Area Alumni Chapter invites you and your guests to an Insiders’ Wine Tour of the Historic Livermore Valley April 28, 2007. Discover the hidden treasures of the Livermore Valley Wine Country, one of California’s oldest wine regions. This day-long event includes in-depth wine seminars, tours, question-and-answer sessions with wine makers, a private lunch, a final reception and bottling your own commemorative bottle of wine. Visit our Web site for more information, or contact the Alumni Association at 1-800-836-ALUM.

Alumni Invited to Join Relay For Life
The UAlbany community is continuing its involvement in the battle against cancer, and alumni are invited to join the fight as part of Relay For Life March 24. Relay, the signature event of the American Cancer Society, is an overnight, team walk, although individuals may participate for a shorter period of time. For more information or to register your team, visit our Web site or e-mail [email protected].

Join School of Education Book Club
You’re invited to join the School of Education Book Club, which is reading Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning. The club will meet to discuss the book March 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the Standish Room in UAlbany’s Science Library. A light supper will be served and the author, a professor in the Department of Reading, will lead the discussion. RSVP by March 12 by calling (518) 442-4985 or e-mailing [email protected]. For more information on the book, visit the school’s Web site.

Get In On the “ACT”
ACT (Art & Culture Talks) is a University Art Museum program that brings together artists, critics, writers, poets and scholars to address key issues in contemporary art and culture. Spring semester programs include a lecture by social critic and satire painter Peter Saul; a reading and discussion by Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural historian Michael Kammen; a lecture by Sina Najafi, creator and editor-in-chief of Cabinet Magazine; and a reading by fiction writer, essayist, art critic and educator Lynne Tillman. For more information, call (518) 442-4035 or visit www.albany.edu/museum.


UNIVERSITY NEWS

Wilcox Appointed UAlbany's New Controller
Kevin Wilcox has been named assistant vice president and controller at UAlbany. He served as deputy controller from 1999 to 2006. Wilcox is responsible for managing the offices of State Accounting, Institutional Services, Parking and Mass Transit Services, Sponsored Funds Financial Management and the SUNY Student Loan Service Center. Full story >>

UAlbany Joins Nationwide Recycling Competitions
From now through April 7, UAlbany will be competing in the nationwide RecycleMania competition against the University of Vermont, Harvard, Stony Brook, Binghamton and more than 150 other universities and colleges across the nation to see who can tip the scales in recycling tonnage. Full story >>


SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

UAlbany NanoCollege, Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Partner to Create National Institute for Sustainable Energy
UAlbany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and Einhorn Yaffee Prescott Architecture and Engineering PC of Albany have announced the creation of a world-class center for zero energy and sustainability that will serve as both a catalyst for energy technology innovations and as a magnet for the attraction of clean energy businesses and industries to the Capital Region and New York State. Full story >>

Three Doctoral Programs Rank in Top 10 Nationally
Doctoral programs in criminal justice, educational administration and social welfare at UAlbany have been named to the Top 10 list nationally in their respective disciplines, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Full story >>

Center for Technology in Government Announces Institute on International Digital Government Research
UAlbany's Center for Technology in Government has announced the first annual Institute on International Digital Government Research. The institute, which is geared toward doctoral students from around the world who are interested in international digital government research, will be a week-long, intensive residential program focused on ways to advance, study and understand digital government research in an international context. The institute will take place July 8-14, 2007, in New York City.  Full story >>

Wang Receives $1.3 million to Study Impact of Greenhouse Gases
UAlbany Professor of Applied Sciences Wei-Chyung Wang has received an additional three-year, $1,272,136 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to study regional climate changes in China and the northeastern United States. The grant enables him to extend his work in climate system sciences at UAlbany's Atmospheric Sciences Research Center. Full story >>

Year of the Woman at School of Business
For the first time in School of Business history, all five student club presidents are women. Debra Ruiz rules the Dean’s Leadership Council, Amanda Lim runs Delta Sigma Pi, Carlys Kirsner has taken the reins of the American Marketing Association, Aleidy Diaz presides over Beta Alpha Bi, and Stacey Lancia governs the Accounting Club.

UAlbany Autism Program Unveils New Facility  
The Center for Autism and Related Disabilities at UAlbany is celebrating a new building, the only one of its kind in New York state. The new 4,000-square-foot facility on Western Avenue boasts three times more space than the center’s previous location in the Social Sciences building and is better equipped to serve Capital Region families with autism spectrum disorders. Full story >>

School of Social Welfare Joins with Black Churches to Improve Diabetes Management  
School of Social Welfare Assistant Professor Sandra Austin and Associate Professor Nancy Claiborne are collaborating with The Voices of Wellness, a health committee of Albany’s African American Clergy for Empowerment, on the design and implementation of an eight-session workshop on diabetes self-management education. Austin and Claiborne will conduct research, funded by the Center for Ethnic Minority Health Disparities, on the participants’ enhanced health awareness.

Professor Studies Blended Learning to Enhance Instruction  
Assistant Professor Peter Shea in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice has been awarded a $260,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Grant to study ways to increase access to instruction and enhance student learning. Shea will focus on the uses of “blended learning” combining a traditional classroom setting with the online classroom. Full story >>

School of Social Welfare Center Receives Grant to Study Shortage of Child Psychiatrists in New York State  
The School of Social Welfare’s Center for Human Services Research has received a grant from the New York State Conference of Local Mental Health Directors to conduct a statewide needs assessment for child psychiatrists and to identify strategies counties can use to cope with the shortage. The Center also will assess trends to project future needs for child psychiatrists. Contact Dr. Cathleen Lewandowski, associate professor and director, at (518) 891-8784 or [email protected] for more information.


ATHLETICS

Athletic Director Lee McElroy Receives Contract Extension
Lee McElroy, vice president for Athletic Administration and director of Intercollegiate Athletics, has received a new five-year appointment running through 2011. McElroy, in his seventh year in charge of university athletics, provides leadership for UAlbany's 19-sport NCAA Division I program. During his tenure, UAlbany has won 18 conference championships and made NCAA appearances in men's basketball, men's lacrosse, women's volleyball, softball, and men's and women's track and field. Full story >>

UAlbany Picked For Bracketbusters Nationally Televised Game
For the second consecutive year, the UAlbany men's basketball team has been selected to play a nationally televised game in the fifth annual O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters. The Great Danes will travel to Boise, Idaho, to face Western Athletic Conference opponent Boise State University. The game will be aired live on an ESPN network (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN 360) on Friday, Feb. 16, with game time and programming information to be determined. Full story >>

Football Stadium Plans Underway
Plans for UAlbany’s football stadium complex are moving forward rapidly. The environmental impact and site analysis will begin later this spring. Both the Capital District and Metro New York Steering Committees are generating significant private support. Athletics has a private fund-raising goal of $10 million for the project. The initial concept calls for a 10,000-15,000 seat stadium with room for expansion as all as offices, a training room and a new academic support center. For more information, contact Don Ostrom at (518) 442-5445.

more great dane news!


OF NOTE

Share Your Success
As a participant in AlumNet, UAlbany’s mentoring/networking program, you help students and fellow alumni explore career paths, define career goals, learn about job market trends and more. And it’s all online! For more information about AlumNet, contact Melissa Samuels at [email protected] or visit our alumni volunteer page.

Check Out Alumni Association Test Prep Courses
Don’t pay more – the UAlbany Alumni Association offers LSAT, GRE and GMAT preparation courses to alumni and students for half the price of other national test prep courses. Register by Feb. 16 and save $100! Visit our Web site or contact the Alumni Association at (518) 442-3080 for more information.


UPCOMING EVENTS

Jan. 18-April 1 – “Mr. President,” University Art Museum
Feb. 16 – BracketBusters Tournament, Boise, Idaho
March 3-5 – America East Men’s Basketball Championship, Boston University
March 8-11 – America East Women's Basketball Championship, Binghamton University
April 28 – Insiders’ Wine Tour – California Bay Area Chapter

Save the Dates : Alumni Weekend ’07, June 1-3; Homecoming '07, October 12-14


PUBLISHED BY: UAlbany Alumni Association
www.albany.edu/alumni | [email protected]