UAlbany Professors by Day, Rockers by Night

By Jackson Woolley, Class of '27

ALBANY, N.Y. (Nov. 9, 2026) — Picture this: Two University at Albany students wander into a music venue looking for a good time. They find a spot near the stage in a packed room. The lights dim and the opener walks out.

One man is dressed like he’s in Green Day, another like a member of The Animals, another like he’s in Dave Matthews Band, and another like a member of a musical’s stage crew.

“Oh my god,” one of the students says. “That’s my professor.”

This is a scene UAlbany students could actually find themselves in, because Danny Goodwin, chair of the Department of Art and Art History, is in not one but two local bands.

Making Music Again

Goodwin thought music was behind him. “I was in the mode of ‘music is in the past for me. I listen to music now; I don’t play music,’” he said.

He had been in bands since junior high (including a group called Jade Raven), but eventually he tried to move on. 

“I got a tenure-track job teaching art,” Goodwin said. “So I got rid of my chain wallet and became a professor. I thought, ‘All right, this is my thing now,’ and sold my drums.” 

Off Goodwin went to teach at Purdue, leaving two years later to join UAlbany.

It was here that he met Ed Schwarzschild, an English professor and director of the Creative Writing program.

“Ed can’t stop writing songs,” Goodwin said about his bandmate. “He writes a song every two days.”

Schwarzschild approached Goodwin about joining his band, Doctor Baker. Goodwin was hesitant at first.

“He just kept at it and finally wore me down,” Goodwin said.

When the time came for rehearsal and Goodwin sat down, it all came back to him.

“It was revelatory,” Goodwin said. “That’s been one of the great reminders of what it’s like to have a brain and a body. It’s liberating, it’s like doing yoga.”

After Goodwin rediscovered his love for making music, he got a call from another friend and colleague, Eric Hardiman, an associate professor in the School of Social Welfare, with one question.

Do you want to join another band?

“I’m already in a band,” Goodwin said. “I don’t have time for another.”

But Hardiman kept at it and eventually got Goodwin into a jam, just to try things out.

“The stakes were low and we were just there to have fun,” Goodwin said. “After that one day of practice, I was in a band.”

And just like that, Goodwin was now also a member of The Regal Selects.

Doctor Baker and the Electric Great Danes

For these professors, music is a great release from their everyday lives.

“Playing music is very much like making art in the studio,” Goodwin said. 

Switching between department chair and bandmate takes a good deal of effort.

“It’s not like how people use shifting gears as the metaphor,” Goodwin said. “It’s not shifting gears, it’s a completely different vehicle.”

“Being a department chair, it’s about problem-solving and diplomacy, but that’s actually an impediment in the studio,” he added. “If I treat coming up with a drum part as a problem to solve in the most expedient way possible, it’s going to be all wrong.”

For Schwarzschild, it’s a way to not only complement but also improve his work.

“It’s all a creative practice,” Schwarzschild said. “There’s a freedom in writing songs that came to help loosen up my other creative writing processes. It’s really fun to collaborate with a group of friends and rock out.”

These UAlbany professors have rocked their way right into the hearts of the local community.

“The only thing left now is to break up and then we’ll know we’re a real band,” Goodwin said.

Let’s just hope we can get a few more songs and a few more good times out of Doctor Baker and The Regal Selects before then.