UAlbany to Host Tokyo Electron R&D Center
Gov. George E. Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver were joined November 21 by Tetsuro “Terry” Higashi, president and CEO of Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL), to announce that a $300 million research and development facility will be established at the Albany Center of Excellence -- a step that will create more than 300 high-tech jobs. Full Story

Eric Block Receives SUNY’s Highest Honor
The State University Board of Trustees has appointed Professor of Chemistry Eric Block a Distinguished Professor -- the highest rank that can be achieved by a SUNY educator. Full Story

Kennedy’s Roscoe Among the Year’s Best
The New York Times Book Review has named Roscoe, the latest novel by University at Albany faculty member William Kennedy, one of the top seven books of the year. In a December 8 article “Editors’ Choice,” Kennedy’s book was among only three novels named to top honors. Roscoe, the seventh novel in the Al-bany cycle, traces the in-trigues and deception of political machine boss Roscoe Conway. “Kennedy’s characters say they make up a lot of their own history. They do it brilliantly, with fine rhetorical flourishes and rapier wit - talk almost as rich as Roscoe’s food and drink. Some critics grouse that no real pols talk like Kennedy’s. So what? After a C.S. Lewis lecture on Shakespeare in the 50s an Oxford undergraduate sneered that ‘no one talks like Romeo and Juliet,’ and Lewis snapped back, ‘They would if they could,’ “ noted the Times Book Review article.

Outstanding Ranking on CPA Exam
Graduates of the University at Albany’s accounting program taking the Certified Public Accountant exam in May 2001 ranked among the top five in the nation in terms of pass rate in one of the four independent sections of the exam. In another section the UAlbany alumni missed the top five ranking by one percentage point. The nationwide pass rate is 20 to 25 percent in each section.

The results were part of a book recently published by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), summarizing nationwide performance in the CPA exam.

Professor Saurav Dutta, chair of the Department of Accounting and Business Law, noted the accounting program graduates compared favorably with competitors across New York State.

The “Hardball” College Tour
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) was the guest on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” on MSNBC during a live telecast November 20 at the University at Albany campus. The show brings the nation’s top political and cultural figures to college campuses around the country./Photo by Mark Schmidt