Take a Seat, Snap a Photo: Damien Statue Unveiled on the Podium

  • Senior Alexa Taleporos offers remarks at the Damien statue unveiling.

    Photos by Brian Busher

  • President Rodríguez offers remarks at the Damien statue unveiling.
  • Joe Bonilla, president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and UAlbany President Havidán Rodríguez unveil the Damien statute.
  • The UAlbany cheer team takes a photo with the Damien statue.
  • UAlbany students pose for a photo with the Damien statue.
  • UAlbany's Director of Marketing and Social Media Manager pose for a photo with the new Damien statue.

    By George McFarland, Class of '28

    ALBANY, N.Y. (Oct. 6, 2026) — The next time you walk across the academic podium, you'll notice a new figure standing tall out front.  

    A bronze Damien statue and bench, a gift from the University at Albany Alumni Association, was unveiled Friday afternoon after 18 months of planning, sculpting and transport.

    The event began shortly after 3 p.m. with brief remarks from Alexa Taleporos, a senior and Purple & Gold Student Ambassador, Joe Bonilla, president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and UAlbany President Havidán Rodríguez.  

    The speeches were brief but impactful, as they reiterated the importance of the UAlbany alumni family, which is made up of more than 205,000 Great Danes, including how they support campus and the student body.

    Alexa then pumped up the crowd in a countdown from 10 before removing a suspiciously Great Dane-shaped tarp. After weeks of speculation about what was under the big purple box, surprise, surprise, it was a statue of our school mascot, Damien!

    The new Damien statue stands tall on the Academic Podium.
    The new Damien statue is located between the Arts & Sciences Building and the University Art Museum.

    There are plenty of Great Dane statues around campus, but this is the first of Damien himself.

    Lee Serravillo, executive director of the Alumni Association, said after the unveiling that they chose a statue as their gift so there would be something tangible on campus that prospective and current students could photograph and remember UAlbany by.

    The first 300 guests at Friday’s event also received a Damien bobblehead modeled after the statue's pose.

    "We hope the Damien statue will help reinforce the lifelong bond between students and alumni and UAlbany, and connect them to their most valuable network here at the Alumni Association,” Serravillo said.

    The statue was sculpted by Virgil Oertle, who’s based in Utah and has designed several mascot statues in the past for other universities through his company VTO Sculpture.  

    A bench with the University at Albany engraved on it.
    The gift includes a bronze statue and bench donated by the Alumni Association.

    To capture Damien's details, Oertle was sent photos of the Damien mascot costume from every angle. The mascot head itself was also shipped to Utah in July 2025 and returned to Albany safely a couple of weeks later. 

    Oertle didn’t drive the statue here himself; instead one of his longtime work partners, Jeff Caron, drove it to campus and installed it.

    Caron also cast the bronze of the statue, which he has experience doing for other universities such as the University of Oregon and Brigham Young University. But none look as good as ours.  

    "I drove about 12 hours a day, it's a 26-hour drive from Utah, so it was about 12- to 13-hour days just to get there," Caron said.

    He installed the statue quickly and smoothly, in just three hours, with the assistance of University facilities’ staff. A large purple box then went over it, so the campus community wouldn't have the surprise spoiled for them ahead of Friday’s event.

    So, the next time you pass the podium, take a seat and snap a photo with Damien. The statue won’t be new forever!