East Campus Expands

The University is expanding its East Campus by half with the help of a $1.3 million grant announced by state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. The acquisition increases the size of the campus, located in Rensselaer County, from 58 acres to 87 acres and clears the way for the construction of several much-needed buildings.

The existing facilities at the East Campus consist of 365,000 square feet of laboratory and office space. In the five years since the abandoned site was acquired from the Sterling Winthrop Company, the complex has been transformed into a thriving hub of high tech research and economic development. The facilities, however, are near capacity. The East Campus is currently home to the University's School of Public Health, the Center for Comparative Functional Genomics and 10 private sector companies, 6 focused on biotechnology and pharmaceutical-related fields.

"This facility, which is designed for biotechnology research and health education, has been extremely successful and is bursting at the seams," said Sen. Bruno, who helped the University purchase the site with a $5 million state grant. His Senate district includes the site.

UAlbany Moves Forward with Master Plan

The University at has officially opened the doors of a new public safety building on the east side of the campus. The one-story, state-of-the-art facility is the first structure to be completed under a $120 million master plan the University began implemen-ting two years ago. UAlbany's old University Police Department building will be demolished. It originally served as a temporary office for architects during construction of the campus in the mid-1960s.

Under construction just north of the new UPD building is a fine arts studio which will house all sculpture and three-dimensional art activity on a single level. The $4.1 million facility is expected to be in use by the fall of 2002.

In other master plan projects, the former Administration Building, located on the academic podium, is being renovated and converted into classroom and faculty space in the arts and sciences. Groundbreaking for a $67 million life sciences research building is expected to occur this spring at the east end of the podium. And planning is under way for a new administration building, which will be the final structure in this phase of the master plan.

The state Legislature funded the five-year round of construction, improvements and renovations in the spring of 1998 after the University identified the steps it needs to take to strengthen its position as a leading public research university.

Israeli Jurist and Scholar Honored

Justice Aharon Barak, president of Israel's Supreme Court, received an honorary law degree from the University at Albany on Oct. 3, 2000 for his "extraordinary achievements in, and contributions to . . . jurisprudence, international affairs, government, teaching and scholarship." President Karen R. Hitchcock and Edward F. Cox, a State University of New York trustee, conferred the degree.

This year's undergraduate Commencement, scheduled for Sunday, May 20,2001, will return to campus as part of a new and expanded weekend of activities celebrating UAlbany's graduates.

A special commencement task force appointed last spring by President Karen R. Hitchcock recommended a new format and location for Commencement with the goal of providing a quality, student-centered experience for all graduates and their families. Undergraduate Commencement had been held at the Pepsi Arena in downtown Albany since 1991.

Planning is under way for an exciting weekend of events that will include a celebration recognizing each graduate at each of the individual schools and colleges, a family picnic and expanded Torch Night activities on Saturday, and a formal, on-campus degree-conferral ceremony on Sunday morning.

Graduates' families are urged to make their reservations for commencement weekend. More information will be sent to graduates and their families in the months ahead.

Research
Literacy Instruction: What Works?

The U.S. Department of Education has rewarded the University at Albany's National Research Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA) with an additional $5.3 million for further research on student learning and achievement.

The two-year award will help the Center find ways to help additional schools improve students' learning and achievement in English and language arts while studying the effects of certain kinds of intervention. UAlbany's partner in the program is the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CELA will collaborate with 18 new schools in the project.

Since receiving its first award in 1987, CELA's research teams have been at the forefront of identifying what "works" in those schools where students perform well in English.

Towers Perrin Commits $330,000 to UAlbany

A gift from a leading consulting firm will benefit the Human Resources Program at the University's School of Business. Approximately one-third of a $330,000 commitment from Towers Perrin will equip a Human Resources Information Systems laboratory in the School of Business building with PCs, fax machines and a copier. An adjacent classroom will be renovated into a "smart classroom" for HRIS instruction.

With the remainder of its three-year commitment, Towers Perrin is endowing a fund to support faculty and student research and development, and an annual award to an outstanding student in Human Resources Information Systems. Towers Perrin's CEO is John Lynch, a 1970 graduate of UAlbany.