Enhancing Faculty Ranks
Through a number of interconnected strategies, the University is building
faculty ranks, and this September, a total of 55 new faculty members
added their expertise to a wide range of disciplines across UAlbany. The
number of new faculty meant that UAlbany had a net increase of 14 in
faculty ranks, to bring the total of full-time faculty to 614. In the
early to mid-1990s, the University experienced a major decline in full-time
faculty due to retirements and fiscal constraints, and in recent years,
a major University priority has been to reverse that trend. Of
the newest faculty, a total of 23 joined the College of Arts and Sciences,
seven were appointed in the new School of NanoSciences and NanoEngineering,
six joined the School of Education, and four joined the School of Public
Health. Such
hirings have been made possible through major reallocation of institutional
resources from non-academic to academic units, as well as through the
identification of new, non-state revenue streams. Recruitment and retention
of faculty have also been addressed through targeted and proactive salary
management, and the enhancement of UAlbany’s research facilities.
The new Life Sciences Research Building rising on campus is one example of University efforts to provide the kinds of research space and facilities that will help recruit and retain world-class researchers and research teams. All the new facilities on campus are designed, first and foremost, to enhance the living and learning environment in ways that bolster recruitment and retention of both faculty and students. Expanded Space for the Arts and Sciences Members
of UAlbany’s College of Arts and Sciences have a new home that
reflects the great need for new space and facilities to accommodate
the growth of the college. The
new Arts and Sciences Building opened in September, following a complete
renovation that transformed what was formerly the University’s
Administration Building. It was the first major rehabilitation of a
building on the academic podium since the University’s main campus
was built in the 1960s.
The
departments of Anthropology, Sociology and Geography and Planning are
now housed in the new building, along with the College dean’s offices.
The building also features three new “smart” classrooms, equipped
with state-of-the-art multi-media tools that allow faculty and students
to tap a richer range of learning resources. During
the University’s master planning process begun in 1996, the Administration
Building, which housed admissions offices and the offices of the president
and other administrators, was identified as prime space that could help
meet the need for more high-quality research and teaching space on the
main podium. In 2000, the building’s occupants were moved to leased
and newly purchased buildings on the edge of the main campus and the
renovation began. The $9 million project yielded 57,000 square feet
of new academic space. The richness and diversity of the arts and sciences at UAlbany were highlighted Oct. 25 through a series of events that began with the dedication of the newly renovated building and included a welcome to the College’s new dean, Joan Wick-Pelletier, a faculty panel discussion, a tea, and music, dance and theater performances. Boor Sculpture Studio Nurtures Campus Artists The
brand-new Boor Sculpture Studio, which also opened in September, is
already showing signs of serious use. But the dust and wood shavings
are the signs of campus artists at work and a fine arts program moving
to the next level. This
first-rate venue is another example of the steps UAlbany is taking to
achieve its strategic goals. A facility that helps attract the strongest
students, it also reflects the importance of private support in providing
first-rate learning environments and programs.
Named
in honor of longtime University supporter Terri Cosma Boor, the sculpture
studio brings to campus the making of three-dimensional art. UAlbany’s
sculpture program had been located in leased space off campus but now,
in its new location only a short distance from the University Art Museum,
it virtually invites students to enter and learn how to shape clay,
wood, steel and other materials into their visions. More
than 200 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels were using
the one-story structure for the first time during the fall of 2002.
The building includes a modeling studio; a media suite, which features
a video production room; and an experimental gallery/installation area.
A three-dimensional design room, a wood/pattern shop, and a complete
bronze foundry and welding shop are part of the facility, as are advanced
air-filtering and other safety features, and an outdoor workspace. At
the front entrance, a general-purpose room provides presentation-style
seating space for 50 but converts readily to an exhibition space, critique
room, or photo studio. Boor
has been a presence in UAlbany’s sculpture studios since 1983.
A sculptor who resides in Loudonville, she signed up for a class at
the University shortly after her husband, Edward Milan Boor, passed
away in 1978. She found a mentor in Professor of Art Edward Mayer, and
she was also impressed by the numerous other UAlbany faculty members
and students she has befriended over the years. Boor made her esteem
tangible in the form of a major gift for the studio. The $5.4 million Boor Sculpture Studio is one of the campus facilities funded through $120 million in state support allocated in 1998 to support the University’s five-year master plan.
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