Dear UAlbany Community,
Welcome to the start of the Fall 2025 semester! I hope you had an enjoyable summer with time to rest and recharge for the year ahead.
I had the opportunity this summer to spend some time working directly with our partners at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) in Spain. There, we officially established a new dual master’s degree program that will enable students to study at both institutions and earn master’s degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UAlbany and in Energy Technology for Sustainable Development from UPV via a joint two-year program. This work speaks directly to the University at Albany’s mission to educate engaged global citizens and our strategic priority of internationalization.
Our commitment to our mission is also on display in the forthcoming UAlbany episode of The College Tour. The Amazon Prime series filmed an episode on campus last spring featuring 10 students who highlighted their academic work, research, internships, athletic accomplishments, and their lives at UAlbany. The episode is truly amazing, and I hope you will stop by the beautifully renovated Campus Center Ballroom for the purple carpet premiere event this Thursday, Sept. 4, at 7:30 p.m.
As you will see in our episode of The College Tour, UAlbany is an engine of opportunity for our entire community. Recently, Washington Monthly ranked UAlbany as one of New York’s top colleges and the top among SUNY institutions based on access, affordability, outcomes, and service. These are metrics we take great pride in, and I am grateful for each of your contributions to our work.
Finally, as we begin the semester, I want to take a moment to reaffirm our values, including inclusive excellence, working to benefit the public good, freedom of expression, and academic freedom. These are cornerstones of UAlbany’s work and they are pillars of what makes this community so special.
This year we will once again celebrate our commitment to these values through the Great Dane Dialogue initiative. This year’s events include panel discussions on free speech, a marathon reading of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, a staged reading of an acclaimed play about immigration, and much more. I hope you will take advantage of this important and impactful programming.
No matter your role at the university, your contributions are critical to our success. Thank you for all you do to make UAlbany great. I look forward to the work we will do together this year.
Go Great Danes!,
Havidán Rodríguez
President