President Highlights Achievements, Recognizes Publicly Engaged Faculty in Fall University Address
By Bethany Bump
ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 1, 2024) — University at Albany President Havidán Rodríguez delivered his Fall University Address on Thursday, updating the community on the state of the University and highlighting achievements in enrollment, rankings, research, and student success and supports.
The speech, which was delivered to a full Campus Center West Auditorium, was followed by a ceremony recognizing winners of this year’s President’s Awards for Exemplary Public Engagement, as well as the honorees for Distinguished Public Engagement.
Acknowledging the precarious state of higher education, which has recently been marked by falling enrollments and college closures in some areas of the country, Rodríguez celebrated UAlbany for retaining strong enrollment growth and student success measures.
Enrollment is up 4 percent across the University for a total of 17,550 undergraduate and graduate students this semester, he said. Transfer enrollment is up 40 percent, with about half that increase coming from a teach-out agreement with the recently shuttered College of Saint Rose and the rest coming from partnerships the University has forged with community colleges in the region and beyond.
“These increases are a major accomplishment,” Rodríguez said. “You have all seen the headlines about enrollments falling, an enrollment cliff looming and colleges closing. We have even felt those impacts right in our backyard. But at UAlbany, we are growing, thanks to the hard work and dedication of each of you.”
He also noted UAlbany’s continued rise in rankings — up 9 spots to No. 61 in U.S. News and World Report’s Top Public Schools list, and up 12 spots to No. 121 among all universities nationally. Of particular pride, he said, is UAlbany’s consistent recognition as one of the best colleges for social mobility and its ability to offer low-income students a diverse and affordable education. U.S. News and the Wall Street Journal ranked the University as No. 26 and No. 31 respectively in the category of social mobility for schools across the country.
“Social mobility — giving students access to opportunities and resources and enabling them to find an upward trajectory in our society — is what UAlbany is built to do,” he said. “We are an engine of opportunity.”
The University is undertaking new initiatives to better support students, Rodríguez said, including a Great Danes 101 course for family members and a UAlbany Financial Assistance Coaching and Tools (FACTS) program funded by a $4 million U.S. Department of Education grant that will help reduce financial barriers to students retention, persistence and graduation.
The University also is investing in new and renovated facilities, he said, such as the opening last May of the College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering building in the old Albany High School building downtown; a new Presidents Reading Room in the University Library; a new Esports Arena in the Lecture Center; and The Well at Colonial, a new health and recreation facility on Colonial Quad.
The new College of Integrated Health Sciences is an example of the University’s holistic approach to wellness, Rodríguez said. Housing the former School of Public Health, School of Social Welfare and a growing nursing program, the college will focus on interdisciplinary approaches to social justice and health equity.
UAlbany continues to lead the way in artificial intelligence and research, he said. In addition to a cluster hire of 27 faculty in AI and a new AI in Government Lab, the University is preparing to launch a state-of-the-art NVIDIA AI supercomputer on campus later this month. It has also announced a new director of its AI Plus Institute, Prabha Prabhakaran, who will join UAlbany in January.
The address concluded with a ceremony celebrating winners of the President’s Awards for Exemplary Public Engagement and honorees for Distinguished Public Engagement, which honor UAlbany faculty, staff, students, projects and programs that, in collaboration with community partners, have made outstanding contributions to the public good.
The 2024 President’s Awards for Exemplary Public Engagement are:
- Tammy Ellis-Robinson, assistant professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and director of Equity and Inclusion for the School of Education
- New York State Myotonic Dystrophy Center: Andy Berglund, Distinguished Professor and Director of the RNA Institute, and John D. Cleary, assistant director of research
The 2024 Honorees for Distinguished Public Engagement are:
- Susan Appe, associate professor and MPA Program Director in the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy
- Rajani Bhatia, associate professor and director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Computer Science Pathways RPP: Lijun Ni, of the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, in partnership with Schenectady, Methuen and Lowell public schools
- Message Design Dashboard: Jeannette Sutton, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC); J. Ramon Gil-Garcia, Center for Technology in Government (CTG); Derek Werthmuller, CTG; and Micki Olson, senior researcher, CEHC, in partnership with FEMA Integrated Public Alert and Warning System and Bent Ear Solutions
Learn more about this year's award winners and honorees below.