State Funds University Master Plan 
     With New York State’s pledge to invest $130 million in the University at Albany for new construction and renovation, the campus has launched the first phase of a master plan that will include several new buildings, and a reconfiguration of Perimeter Road and parking to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment. 
     The $130 million was included in the Higher Education Capital Construction Plan approved in April by state leaders as part of the 1998-99 New York State Budget. 
     University President Karen Hitchcock called the budget “a turning point in the history of the University at Albany.” 
     The University’s master plan, which is designed to be carried out in three phases between now and 2008, calls for up to one million square feet of construction and renovations, including a new life sciences building, public safety building, sculpture studio, and entry building on the uptown campus, and renovations on the uptown and downtown campuses. (See Spring ’98 issue of Albany.) 
     By realigning Perimeter Road, the main road on the uptown campus, the University will move vehicle traffic and parking out toward the residence hall quads and surround the main academic podium with a “green area,” up to 400 feet wide of open spaces and pedestrian walkways. 

Fallon, Malesky Named  
to University Council 
     John R. Fallon, Jr., B.A.’77, M.P.A.’81, and Thomas J. Malesky, Ed.D.’74, have been appointed by Gov. George Pataki as members of the University Council, the local governing body of the campus. 
     Fallon is a partner in the New York City law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MaCrae, L.L.P. His practice focuses on corporate acquisitions and divestitures, health care facility transactions, project finance and oil and gas transactions. 
     Malesky is former chief of the Bureau of Educational Finance Research and an associate in educational finance for the State Education Department. Malesky, from Schuylerville, also has a long history in New York State public school education, serving as principal of the Schuylerville High School and superintendent of the Redwood School District near Potsdam. 

Center Expands Efforts to Rebuild Lebanon 
     The University’s Center for Legislative Development (CLD) is expanding its efforts to help Lebanon rebuild its governmental institutions, under terms of a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (AID). 
     “This project is a component of Lebanon’s effort to rebuild its government after a very destructive war,” said Abdo Baaklini, center director. “As part of that process, the Parliament and local government must acquire the institutional capacity to act as a full partner in Lebanon’s developing democracy, and the center’s activities will assist in that effort.” 
     The Center for Legislative Development has been working to assist Lebanon since 1993. 
 

Albany Programs Rank Among Elite 
     In its first-ever rating of public affairs programs, U.S. News & World Report magazine has ranked the University’s Rockefeller College graduate programs in public administration, criminal justice, information technology, and public finance and budget among the country’s elite. 
     In the rankings, Rockefeller College’s master’s in public administration program tied for 11th in the nation (among 248 public affairs programs) with Duke University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 
     Albany’s program in criminal justice policy was ranked No.3 in the nation, information policy and management was No.4, public management was tied with American University at No.7, and public finance and budget was ranked No.9. 
     In other U.S. News rankings, Albany’s Ph.D. program in sociology was tied for 21st with Ohio State University and Johns Hopkins University, the University’s psychology Ph.D. program was ranked 53rd (with the clinical psychology specialty ranked 20th); and the School of Education was ranked No. 49. 
     The Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards ranked the University’s clinical psychology program 10th out of 183 in the U.S. and Canada in how well graduates perform on the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology. 

Citizen Laureates 
     Daniel J. Hogarty, Jr., president and chief executive officer of The Troy Savings Bank, and Dr. Anthony P. Tartaglia, professor of medicine and former dean of Albany Medical College, were named as the 1998 Citizen Laureates by the University at Albany Foundation. 
     The awards recognize individuals for significant contributions to the community and academic world. Tartaglia received the Academic Laureate Award and Hogarty received the Community Laureate Award. 

Leslie "Bennie" Siegel 
     Leslie “Bennie” Siegel, 78, long-time equipment manager for the University’s Athletic Department and a member of the University’s Sports Hall of Fame, died on March 29 after a long illness. 
     Few colleges or universities have had a more devoted employee or personal booster for their athletic programs than Albany had in Siegel. A diminutive man with an at-times fiery temper, he was famed for personally attending to broken equipment, connecting hundreds of athletes’ names to faces each year, and making sure that every uniform looked as gleaming new as possible for each contest. He also assigned lockers to teams, faculty and staff alike and mentored hundreds of work-study students. 
     Siegel also attended nearly every home contest for every sport, cheering on Albany athletes as if they were family. Equipped with a megaphone at football and basketball games, even after retirement, he would lead the crowds with spelling out “Albany,” letter by letter, sometimes stretching his body to form the letters. 
     He is survived by his wife and fellow friend of the University, Sylvia Siegel, a son, a daughter, two grandchildren, a brother, and a sister. Memorial contributions may be made to the Bennie Siegel Scholarship Fund, c/o the University at Albany Foundation, AD 231, Albany, NY 12222. 

Awards and Honors 
David H. Bayley, dean of the University’s School of Criminal Justice, and William Reid, a professor in the University’s School of Social Welfare, have been named Distinguished Professors by the State University of New York Board of Trustees. 
     Bayley, who joined the Criminal Justice faculty in 1985 and became the School’s dean in 1995, is a leading expert on issues of police behavior, not only in the U.S. but around the world. He was among the first criminal justice scholars to spot the trend towards community policing, and his work in that field, as well as in social control theory and comparative policing, has helped define the field. His latest book, Police for the Future, was selected by the Oxford University Press as the lead book for a new series on crime and 
public policy. 
     Reid, an influential leader in the field of social welfare, is principally known as the “inventor” of the task-centered approach to social work. This brought about a significant shift in how that work with individuals and families is viewed. His latest work focuses on extending the task-centered model to work with families of children at risk of school failure. A prodigious scholar, he has authored or co-authored 14 books and more than 120 articles and chapters in scholarly books and professional journals. 
     The rank of distinguished professor is conferred on individuals who have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within a chosen field. 

 Sharona Wachs, cataloger in the University Libraries, was awarded the 1997 Bibliography Award from the Research and Special Libraries Division of the Association of Jewish Libraries. Wachs received the award, including a $500 cash prize, for her publication American Jewish Liturgies: A Bibliography of American Jewish Liturgy from the Establishment of the Press in the Colonies through 1925. 

Sue Faerman, a professor in the University’s Department of Public Administration and Policy, is the 1998 Collins Fellow. Faerman, who joined Albany’s faculty in 1987, is nationally recognized for her expertise in public management and organizational behavior and renowned on campus for her devotion to students. The Collins Fellow 
award recognizes outstanding service and commitment to the University and is named for the late Evan R. Collins, who served the University as president from 1949 to 1969. 
 
 

 
Ironweed, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by University Professor of English William Kennedy, is now being cited as one of the top 100 English-language novels of the 20th century. 
     The top 100 were selected by the editorial board of the Modern Library, a division of Random House. 
     Ironweed, the story of hobo hero Francis Phelan set in the 1930s in Albany, was ranked 92nd. No. 1 on the list was Ulysses by James Joyce. 
     Ironweed won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1984. Kennedy, who is director of the University-based New York State Writers Institute, is also the author of The Ink Truck, Legs, Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game, O Albany!, Quinn’s Book, Very Old Bones, Riding the Yellow Trolley Car, and The Flaming Corsage. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected Albany publisher Joel Blumenthal to spend a year “on loan” from the University, working as a Public Affairs Specialist in the NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs in Arlington, Virginia. Blumenthal, who began his assignment August 17, will be responsible for obtaining media coverage of NSF-funded research in the areas of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Eco-nomics and Engineering. He has led the University at Albany’s public relations and publications efforts since September 1990 as Associate Vice President for Advancement/University Relations.