CAMPUS NEWS

    Ever since author Jonathan Kozol first reported on gross inequities between the nation's urban and suburban schools, the question has been: How does one improve the quality of education for students at urban elementary and secondary schools?
    University at Albany School of Education Professor Donald A. Biggs is actively involved in finding solutions through the University's Urban Education Program, which he directs. UAlbany's Urban Education Program attracts students from a variety of disciplines, and offers an undergraduate minor and a graduate certificate. Biggs is also one of the founders of the Summer Institute on Urban Youth Leadership. 
    This summer the Institute will place UAlbany and Siena College students for six weeks in Arbor Hill Elementary School, teaching recent middle school graduates and high school students to be leaders in the classroom. Each year about 15 college students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate courses assist 50 recent middle school graduates and high school students in working with elementary school children in grades 3 through 6. Audrey Barrantes, a graduate assistant in the Urban Education Program, will recruit UAlbany students for the Institute. Barrantes acts as a liaison between the Summer 2000 Institute and Arbor Hill Elementary School, Livingston Middle School and Albany High School. Faculty members who want to refer students to the program may have them e-mail Barrantes at AB2848@cnsvax.albany.edu. More information will be available in March.
     “Too many programs for urban youth are designed to 'fix' something that's broken,” said Biggs, who joined the UAlbany faculty in 1985, and who earned his Ed.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.  “I don't think about it that way. I've always looked on this as a program for leadership - developing the strengths and talents of urban youth, capitalizing on their knowledge of urban life, recognizing what they can become, and helping them achieve that.”
    The impetus for the Summer Institute grew out of efforts in 1993 by the School of Education to find ways to better prepare future teachers and others planning to work in the inner-city community. 
    The first Institute met in the summer of 1995 and concentrated on how participating young people could help involve other youth in the life and future of their communities.
    While the elementary school children benefit from the enriched summer learning, the high school students gain classroom skills as leaders and team teachers, and the college students complete 100 hours of field work and earn three credits.
    Last summer, during the last week of the Institute, the elementary school students used theater, Web pages and video to tell others what they learned about the reasons their neighbors work so hard at school, in their jobs, and in their communities.
    The high school and university students were organized into two “action research” teams that focused on the question, “How can we help elementary school students in our community to be successful in school?” Members of one of the teams discussed what improvements were needed in their schools. In addition, the two teams jointly sponsored a “Community Speak Out” in which about 75 citizens were invited to tell the urban youth how to be successful at school and in life. 
    Melissa Cedeno, a UAlbany senior with a minor in urban education, was drawn to the Institute by the chance to do field work. “I had never taught before. We had to make lesson plans and go into the classroom. We had excellent help from teachers, but to actually do this was really challenging,” she said. Another of her roles was to help the high school students take on teaching responsibilities. “Making that transition was the most difficult thing for me,” she said.
    But, says UAlbany graduate student Justin Ryan, that transition was central to the purpose of the Institute. “Everything we did with the high school and college students was to get them to work together, to understand teamwork, and to synthesize ideas they could take into the classroom and use to teach the children. The most important function of the college students was to act as facilitators, to help the high school kids take control and run the program,” Ryan explained.
    Today the Summer Institute enjoys broad community support. Recent collaborators have included the African American Research Foundation, UAlbany's School of Education, Siena's Department of Education, the Office of the Mayor of Albany, the Albany Public Schools, Goals 2000 of the New York State Department of Education, and the Albany High School Essential School Program.
    This partnership between UAlbany and the community was highlighted last November by the Sixth Capital District Round Table on Urban Education, held at Alumni House.
    During the event, Prince Crawford, a participant of the Albany Institute for Urban Youth Leadership Development, presented outstanding service awards for 1999 to Albany Mayor Gerald D. Jennings and James T. Fleming, then dean of UAlbany's School of Education.
    Other participants included: Anne Pope, director of the African American Research Foundation and panel moderator; Raymond Colucciello, superintendent of Schenectady City Schools; UAlbany's Judy Genshaft, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs; Lonnie Palmer, superintendent of the Albany City Schools, and Dennis E. Tamburello, O.F.M., professor of religious studies and co-director of the Franciscan Center for Service and Advocacy at Siena College. Robert Colesante '97, a professor at Siena and a co-founder of the Institute, welcomed guests and stressed the collaborative nature of the program.
    Members of a student panel from the Urban Youth Leadership Development Program included, in addition to Crawford, moderators Michael Mancini, program coordinator, and Anton Zakarov, associate coordinator, Fifth Albany Institute for Urban Youth Leadership Development; Desmond Gordon, Ariel Brown and Crystal Stallings. 

    The University at Albany was featured in a national publication last month for its excellent track record in hiring top Hispanic scholars.
An article in the December 3 issue of The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education highlighted what UAlbany is doing right when it comes to recruiting Hispanic professors. The University had the fourth-highest percentage of Latino full-time faculty in the nation, according to a 1995 study by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Statistics.
     Roughly five percent of the University's 500 full-time professors, or 28 professors, were of Latino descent. What makes the UAlbany ranking stand out is that Albany is the only city in the top four that does not have a large Hispanic population. The top three schools were the University of Miami, 12 percent; New Mexico State University, eight percent; and Arizona State University, five percent. 
    When it comes to awarding bachelor's degrees to Hispanic students, Albany is first among all SUNY schools, the article said. Last spring, UAlbany made the magazine's list of the top 100 schools in the nation in awarding bachelor's degrees to Hispanic students, based on 1997 graduation statistics of the U.S. Department of Education's Center for Education Statistics.
    What is Albany doing right?
    Carlos E. Santiago, associate provost and dean of Graduate Studies, has played an important role in the University's strategy for competing for top Latino scholars. According to Santiago, the quality of UAlbany's Latin American and Caribbean Studies department has been a major draw.
    “That department has helped us establish a core group of Latino faculty,” Santiago said. The department has 22 full-time professors. When prospective Hispanic faculty visit, they are welcomed by this core group and learn quickly that they will not be isolated on campus.
    Another attraction is the interdisciplinary nature of the department offerings. When a Latino scholar is hired in another department, he or she may teach a course in Latin American and Caribbean Studies if the content is relevant to both units. Thus, joint appointments are common. That same Latino scholar may have a joint appointment with Latin American and Caribbean Studies while holding a primary appointment in another department. In this case, the scholar would have full voting rights as a member of each department.
The Hispanic Outlook article highlights UAlbany's commitment to hiring professors from diverse backgrounds.
    “Our student body is 20 percent minority and expanding. We're located only three hours from New York, so diversity is important. We aspire to have role models on campus for all of our students,” 
Santiago said.
    Gloria DeSole, senior adviser to the president for affirmative action and employment planning, said, “We cannot, in the beginning of the 21st century, hope to educate people of the state with the perspective of one group or one gender. We need the enrichment, energy, and viewpoint of Latino, African American, Asian, and Native American scholars.”
    Santiago is president of the Puerto Rican Studies Association, where he meets Puerto Rican doctoral candidates. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University, where he still maintains contact with faculty who stay in touch with talented Latino scholars.

    Save this date: Thursday, Feb. 10, 2000. That's the date of the third annual American Marketing Association/
    University at Albany Internet symposium, “Building Brands and Business on the Web.” The symposium will once again be held at the Albany Marriott on Wolf Road, and will use a full-day format.
    Now an annual event that draws more than 250 people, “Building Brands and Business on the Web” is a joint project of the New York Capital Region Chapter of the American Marketing Association, the University at Albany, the University at Albany Foundation's Council for Economic Outreach and the School of Business. Its purpose is to give Capital Region marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, students and faculty an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in Internet technology and Internet marketing strategy and to interact with people who have successfully used the Internet to promote their businesses and/or brands.
    The symposium promises to be better than ever. There are more speakers, more topics, more opportunities for one-on-one advice and more display booths offering products and services to individuals and companies doing business on the web.  Keynote speakers include Vijay Vaidyanathan '90, chief strategy officer for NBCi, as well as Jerry Shereshewsky, whose title is direct yahoo at Yahoo!; Michael Chaplo, senior vice president of marketing for priceline.com; Ray Oram, software brand marketing manager for IBM Americas; and Elizabeth Talerman, CEO of Agile Industries (and a favorite from the previous Internet symposiums). The first 50 faculty, staff and/or students to register pay $55 for the entire day, including breakfast and lunch. When those 50 spots are taken, the cost is $100 for AMA members and $130 for non-members. So it pays to sign up early. You can register online at www.internetsymposium.com. Attendance will be capped at 300 to keep the breakout sessions at a manageable size so that you'll be able to have your questions answered. That does mean you'll need to register early to be assured a spot.
    Topics for the day include, “Straight Answers to Straight Questions,” a discussion of economic leverage in Internet marketing - where it is and how to take maximum advantage; “priceline.com - an Inside Look at a Groundbreaking Business Model”; “Ten Success Factors for e-business”; “Beyond the Banner: Building Your Brand Online”; and “Creating an Internet Business: Secrets to Success.” Roundtable discussions will cover topics such as “Effective Business-to-Business Web Strategy,” “Be the Entrepreneur: Merging Traditional and Online Marketing Strategies,” “Intranets & Extranets: Using the Web to Improve Your Employee and Customer Communications,” “How to Attract Repeat Visitors to Your Web Site,” and “How to Use Database Capabilities with Your Web Site.”
    During the luncheon program, the University at Albany will also present its second Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award. For more information, go to www.internetsymposium.com.