UAlbany goes to Washington

The University’s Washington Semester students met with Vice President Dick Cheney last March 26. This photo was taken on the steps of the Old Executive Office Building, outside Cheney’s ceremonial office, next door to the White House.

Apartment-Style Complex
to house 1,200 students

With substantial growth in enrollment projected for the next decade, the University is building its first new student housing since Freedom Quad in 1986-87. Site preparation for the first phase of the project, which will initially house 800 students, is now under way, with occupancy scheduled for the fall of 2002.

The 25-building complex, which is designed to accommodate a total of about 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students, will rise on 25 acres at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Fuller Road on the uptown campus. One of those structures will be a commons, or “welcoming” building with exercise and mail facilities, staff offices, and a meeting area. The remaining structures will offer apartment-style living, with 12 four-bed apartments and 48 occupants to a building.

Six of the buildings will be constructed in a cluster forming a “graduate community” separated by a roadway from the other housing units.

Architects for this $60 million project have taken careful advantage of its unique wooded setting, with every possible step being taken to preserve the natural beauty of the land.

The State University of New York entered into a ground lease agreement with the University at Albany Alumni Association to develop the student housing. The Alumni Association is subcontracting the construction to the University at Albany Foundation Student Housing Corporation. The costs will be funded through municipal tax-exempt bonds.

Awards and Honors

antiago Named Provost Carlos E. Santiago, a labor economist with regional expertise in the Caribbean and Central America, is the University’s new provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Santiago, whose appointment was announced in April, joined the faculty in 1988. He had previously served as interim provost while the University carried out a nationwide search. Santiago, who is also a professor of Latin American and Caribbean studies and economics, holds a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University and M.A. degrees in economics from Cornell and the University of Puerto Rico.

He is the founding co-editor of the Latino Research Review and the author of four books. In 1996, Santiago was named one of the top 100 most influential Hispanic leaders in the U.S. by Hispanic Business, where he served as a member of the Board of Consulting Economists. He succeeds Judy Genshaft, who is now president of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla.

eter Levin Heads School of Public Health The University has named Peter J. Levin, former health policy counsel to U.S. Sen. Connie Mack of Florida, as dean of the School of Public Health.

In his previous position, Levin helped Mack shape Medicare legislation in the Senate Finance Committee, as well as work toward finding a cure for cancer and sponsor legislation for biomedical research.

Levin succeeds David O. Carpenter, the founding dean of the School of Public Health, who served in the post from 1985 until his retirement in 1998. Environmental health expert John Conway and Professor of public policy Jeryl Mumpower served as interim deans.

The School of Public Health, located on UAlbany’s East Campus, is the only such unit in the State University system. It enjoys a unique partnership with the New York State Department of Health, as well as an affiliation with Albany Medical College.

UAlbany in the News

The University at Albany was the focus of an article in the June 12 issue of the Christian Science Monitor titled “This Is Your Father’s Graduation.” The story discusses how many colleges and universities are renewing age-old traditions in commencement ceremonies, and describes UAlbany’s successful efforts to recreate a commencement experience focusing on students.

The scholarship of Distinguished Sociology Professor John Logan continues to attract national and international media attention. The New York Times, Daily News, Newsday, USA Today and WNBC all ran stories in July highlighting Logan’s analysis of new census data suggesting that Dominicans, Colombians and other Hispanics in New York City were seriously undercounted. The April 16 editions of both U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek also featured information and statistics from the 2000 census compiled by the University’s Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research. (Logan, who is executive director of the Center, is featured in this issue of UAlbany magazine in a story that begins on page 18.)

The University at Albany was featured in The New York Times April 8 in an article titled “Where Westchester Goes to College.” In a survey of 27 high schools in Westchester County, the story stated, UAlbany is the second most popular choice among high school graduates.

Edward Salsberg of the School of Public Health was quoted in The Boston Globe April 8 in a story with the headline “Health Workers Taking IT Route, Many Enjoy Sector’s Pay, Job Satisfaction.” The article also mentioned a study by UAlbany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies, which listed the health care sector overall as an unattractive workplace.

Commencement Weekend: The University created a new, more personal commencement experience last May 19-20 featuring a weekend of events with a series of smaller ceremonies. A University survey indicates both parents and graduates overwhelmingly agreed with the decision to move the ceremony back to campus from the Pepsi arena in downtown Albany. They also liked the weekend-long format and the individual recognition given to students in separate school and college ceremonies.