UNIVERSITY HIGHLIGHTS AT A GLANCE New Deans for Arts and Sciences, Criminal Justice
Joan
Wick-Pelletier, a mathematician and an experienced administrator, was
named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Julie Horney, a
psychologist whose research focuses on criminal justice issues, was
named dean of the School of Criminal Justice. Before
coming to UAlbany, Wick-Pelletier was a mathematics professor at York
University in Toronto, Canada, and also served at York as chair of the
University Senate, as associate vice president for research (from 1990
to 1994), and as chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics
(from 1985 to 1989). A
professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha
since 1991, Horney was most recently a visiting fellow at Cambridge’s
Institute of Criminology and Clare Hall. From 1998 to 2001, she was
director of the Situational Dynamics Research Program Area of the National
Consortium on Violence Research. From 1981 to 1991, she was an associate
professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska.
William
Kennedy, UAlbany faculty member and executive director of the New York
State Writers Institute, was inducted into the 2002 class of Fellows
and Foreign Honorary Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The
academy is the nation’s preeminent learned society and research
institution, and its current membership includes more than 150 Nobel
laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners. The Causes of Teen-age Crime With
new federal funding, UAlbany criminal justice professor Terence Thornberry
is extending his research into the causes of teen-age crime. His new
project, called “Life Course Continuity and Change in Antisocial
Behavior,” is being supported through a five-year grant of $2.7
million from the National Institute of Mental Health. Thornberry, an internationally recognized expert on juvenile delinquency, and his colleagues at the Hindelang Research Center in the School of Criminal Justice have tracked the behavior of at-risk youths in Rochester through a long-term, $14 million federally funded project called the Rochester Youth Development Study. The study has underscored the importance of such factors as peer pressure, self-esteem, and stress in the development of antisocial behavior among adolescents. Internet2 Boosts Research As
a new member of the Internet2 consortium, UAlbany now has better access
to research facilities across the U.S. UAlbany
was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation that allowed
it to join the Internet2 consortium and connect to a national grid of
research networks that operate at speeds up to 2.4 billion bits per
second. The high bandwidth of Internet2 enables scientists at UAlbany to access computers at NSF-sponsored national supercomputer sites like the University of Illinois or the San Diego Supercom-puter Center, to do modeling and simulation, and visualization of large data sets like radio telescope data. UAlbany
Teams with Tribhuvan University in Nepal The research projects involve both experimental and theoretical investigations and are being conducted at both UAlbany and Tribhuvan University. The projects in environmental physics focus on ozone depletion in the stratosphere and ozone-ultraviolet interaction. The material physics projects involve optoelectronic devices and optical communications, chalcogenide glasses important in X-ray imaging and photocopying, and nano-structured materials important in solar photo-voltaic cells. The project director is UAlbany’s Professor Tara Prasad Das. President Hitchcock Selected for Leadership Post in Prevention of Substance Abuse UAlbany President Karen R. Hitchcock was selected to serve on the Presidents Leadership Group (PLG), a group of higher education presidents and chancellors who have declared their commitment to student substance abuse prevention. Higher education officials from 31 campuses representing 22 states have now joined in this effort. Members serve as prevention spokespersons, change agents, and models for other presidents. Go Great Danes! As
the University continued to strengthen its Division I athletic program,
the men’s lacrosse team achieved a milestone — the Great Danes’
first regular-season championship in the America East conference. The
lacrosse team’s success is one reflection of the steps UAlbany
is taking to build its athletic program. All 19 sports now have full-time
head coaches who actively recruit talented student-athletes from across
the country for the teams. The University has also completed the initial steps in the NCAA Division I certification process. An in-depth self-study of the University’s intercollegiate athletics programs was completed and submitted to the NCAA in January 2002. An
NCAA peer review team subsequently made a site visit to the UAlbany
campus during which team members interviewed University staff, student-athletes,
and faculty and toured campus athletic facilities. After receiving the
review team’s report and recommendations, the University prepared
and submitted a response to the NCAA Committee on Certification. The committee was expected to issue its initial decision on UAlbany’s certification in late fall 2002.
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