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University at Albany, The State University of New York

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University at Albany, The State University of New York
University logo
SUNY Albany Seal
Motto: Sapientia et sua et docendi causa (Wisdom both for its own sake and for the sake of teaching)
Established 1844
Type: Public
Faculty: 940
Undergraduates: 12,013
Postgraduates: 5,027
Location Albany, NY, USA
Campus: Suburban, 560 acres (2.3 km²)
Athletics: 24
Colors: Purple and gold
Mascot: Great Dane
Website: www.albany.edu

University at Albany, SUNY, is a public university located in the capital of New York state, and is the senior campus of the SUNY system. The University was founded in 1844 in Albany, New York, and has three campuses; the Uptown and Downtown Campuses in the city of Albany and one campus in the town of East Greenbush, just east of Albany. The officially designated informal name is "UAlbany", but the university is sometimes referred to by locals, outsiders, oldtimers and alumni as Albany, Albany State, SUNY Albany, SUNY A. or just plain SUNY. It began as a normal school in the mid-19th century and evolved into a State University Center by the middle of the 20th. In 2001, it was designated a State Center of Excellence for nanotechnology and subsequently has seen a large investment from both the State and from industry. The University hosts the only School of Public Health in SUNY (in conjunction with Wadsworth labs), The Atmospheric Science Research Center, and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, which hosts the New York State Center of Excellence in Nanoelctronics. UAlbany is one of four university centers in the SUNY system, the others being the University at Buffalo, Stony Brook University, and Binghamton University.

Contents

Colleges and schools

The university comprises 10 colleges and schools:

College of Arts and Sciences

The College of Arts and Sciences, comprising 25 departments and 59 programs, forms the largest academic division at the university. Departments of the College of Arts and Sciences include Africana Studies, Anthropology, Art, Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Classics, Communication, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, East Asian Studies, Economics, English, Geography and Planning, History, Judaic Studies, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies, Mathematics and Statistics, Music, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Religious Studies, Sociology, Theatre, and Women's Studies.

College of Computing and Information

The College of Computing and Information at the University at Albany, State University of New York, was created in 2005. It is composed of three founding faculties:

The College of Computing and Information commits itself to supporting world-class, discipline-based research and educational programs related to computing and information.

Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy

The Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, named for former U.S. Vice President and Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller, was created in 1981 and is home to the university's departments of Political Science and Public Administration and Policy. Rockefeller College offers degree programs that range from bachelor's level study in political science and public policy, to master's programs in political science, public administration and public policy, to doctorates in political science and public administration. Research centers within the college include the Center for Legislative Development, the Center for Policy Research, the Center for Women in Government & Civil Society, and the Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research. In U.S. News and World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools 2005 Edition, Rockefeller College was ranked 10th overall, 4th in "Information technology & management", and 6th in "Public administration & management" out of 253 schools of public affairs.

School of Business

The School of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Graduate admission to The School Of Business for Graduate School at SUNY Albany focuses more on the GMAT Score rather than grade point average (according to rumor). Undergraduate admission for The School of Business is a 3.0 grade point average and numerous prerequisite courses. Undergraduates in the School of Business graduate with a Bachelor of Science in either business administration or accounting. Business administration majors concentrate in one of four fields, finance, marketing, information technology management (ITM, formerly management systems information science, or, MSIS), or management. Students are also permitted to combine concentrations as to further expand their knowledge and education. Recently there has been a new and excellent Financial Analyst program that was created. Both accounting and business administration majors are 60-credit majors, as opposed to the normal 40-credit majors in nearly every other field. Due to the diverse nature of this school, there are numerous extracurricular activities that align themselves with the school of business. There are a number of business groups and business fraternities that do many interesting and remarkable events around campus, such as the international business fraternity of Delta Sigma Pi. Their Zeta Psi chapter organizes, among other events, the annual career fair. Numerous companies and recruiters come to this event every year in order to meet with the students of the school of business. The School of Business also offers master's and doctoral level courses of study. The current dean of the School of Business is Paul A. Leonard, Ph.D., who was formerly a professor of finance with a long history in bond and bond analysis, and municipal lending.

School of Criminal Justice

The School of Criminal Justice was formed in 1966, and covers all aspects of criminal justice. The school was ranked #2 in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

School of Education

The School of Education is home to the departments of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, Educational and Counseling Psychology, Educational Theory and Practice, and Reading.

College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering

Created in 2003, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (previously the School of Nanosciences and Nanoengineering) is the first college in the world devoted exclusively to nanoscale science and engineering. By being completely independent from traditional disciplines, the college is able to create its curriculum from the ground up instead of relabeling traditional courses as "nano." The college features four academic "constellations" in place of traditional departments: Nanoscience, Nanoengineering, Nanoeconomics, and Nanobioscience. The college currently offers 4 different degree programs: a Master's of Science Degree in Nanoscale Science, a M.S. in Nanoscale Engineering, a Doctor of Philosophy in Nanoscale Science, a Ph.D. in Nanoscale Engineering. The college has also collaborated with the School of Business at UAlbany to offer two dual-degree programs through the "Nano+MBA" program: a M.S. in either Nanoscale Science or Nanoscale Engineering and a Master's of Business Administration. CNSE is a worldwide melting pot of industry and academia. Not only are the students from around the world, but major companies in the various nanotechnology industries have offices and labs at the CNSE facilities- IBM, Infineon, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices), GE (General Electric), Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, SEMATECH, DuPont, Kodak, DARPA, Honeywell, Intel, Lockheed Martin, M&W Zander, ASML, Philips, NASA, and Motorola. Dubbed Albany Nanotech, this consortium is unlike anywhere else in the world. It also has the only 300 mm wafer processing line in the academic world. The University at Albany, these industry partners, and the State of New York have invested more than $3.5 billion in this 450,000-square-foot (42,000 m²) facility. Besides working alongside researchers from these notable companies, students are able to use state of the industry tools, learn from faculty with real world industrial experience, and therefore enjoy a high placement rate in top-notch research labs.

School of Public Health

The School of Public Health was created in 1985 and is the only school of public health in the State University of New York. The school offers programs in biomedical sciences, biometry and statistics, environmental health and toxicology, epidemiology, and health policy, management, and behavior. It is accredited through the Council on Education for Public Health. Through a partnership with the New York State Department of Health, the School offers a research oriented approach for faculty, and valuable professional experiences for students. Degrees offered include MPH, MS, DrPH and PhD in four academic departments. Research interests of over 200 doctoral-level faculty include AIDS, GIS, maternal and child health, hospital epidemiology, infectious diseases, environmental and occupational health, eldercare, minority health and health disparities.

School of Social Welfare

The School of Social Welfare was created in 1965, and offers programs in Social Work.

State University of New York Research Centers

Atmospheric Sciences Research Center

The Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (ASRC) is the State University of New York Center for research in the atmospheric sciences. The center was established on February 16, 1961, by the Board of Trustees as a university-wide center for the specific purpose to promote and encourage programs in basic and applied sciences especially as they related to the atmospheric environment. The Center performs research to study the physical and chemical nature of the atmosphere and its implications to the environment. Current research areas include boundary layers, solar radiation, radiative transfer, atmospheric chemistry, aerosol physics, air quality, solar energy, cloud physics, climate systems, and air quality monitoring. In addition the center has a large "jungle research group" exploring atmosphere and biosphere relationships in Amazonia, the Alaskan Tundra, the Canadian Boreal Forest, and the eastern U.S.. The Center is connected to, and shares faculty and resources with, the University's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Rankings

In 2006,University at Albany was ranked among the top 300 universities in the world and 45th among world universities in Social Sciences by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jaio Tong University, Shanghai, China ( SJSU) a participant in the International Expert Group Created to Improve Higher Education Rankings. According to US News and World Report, UAlbany is a tier 3 national university; Tiers 1 and 2 are ranked according regarding the school as a whole and tier 3 institutions are otherwise unranked. Several individual programs, however (particularly graduate programs), are ranked among the top in the country. The University ranks 77th nationally in NSF funded research, behind Carnegie Mellon at #76.[1] The University has no medical school, which makes the relatively high NSF funded profile noteworthy. When medical and engineering schools (Albany possesses neither) are excluded from NSF funded research national rankings, it is ranked 38th nationally. Chronicles of Higher Education ranks the doctoral programs in criminal justice, educational administration, and social welfare in their "Top 10" list nationally in their respective disciplines. According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, it is a Public Ivy.[2] Albany's stated mission is to move to become "most selective" university, and has engaged in a growth strategy that supports this objective.[3] Other Top 25 Program Rankings and sources:

    Criminal Justice - #2 (US News 2006)
    Educational Administration - #7 (Academic Analytics 2006)
    Social Welfare - #5 (Academic Analytics 2006)
    Public Policy - #10 (US News 2005)
    Information Technology and Management - #4 (US News 2006)
    Educational and Counseling Psychology - #13 (US News 2006)
    Africana Studies - #3 (Black Issues in Higher Education July 2004)
    Public Administration and Management - #6 (US News 2006)
    Public Finance and Budgeting - #9 (US News 2006)
    Public Policy Analysis - #25 (US News 2006)
    Library Science - #15 (US News 2006)
    Nanoscience and Engineering - #1 overall, ahead of Cornell (#2), Michigan-Ann Arbor (#3), Rice (#4), University of Pennsylvania (#5), and Virginia (#6).[4]
    Atmospheric Sciences: ranked in the first quartile of NSF rankings in total federal R&D expenditures.

Campuses

Uptown Campus

The front of UAlbany's Uptown Campus, overlooking Collins Circle
The front of UAlbany's Uptown Campus, overlooking Collins Circle

The main (Uptown) campus, located at 1400 Washington Ave., is modernist in style, designed by world renowned architect Edward Durell Stone and based on a symmetrical plan. Since its opening in the mid 1960's, the Uptown campus has evoked strong responses. As University at Albany Professor of English and art critic Thomson Littlefield noted in the Times Union in 1967: “The place is so huge, so imposing, so beset with illusion, so far out of this world, that people are blinded to the actual, at least until they have looked assiduously for a very long while. A glance at the University is like a glance at the sun.” As recently as September 2006, a UAlbany student defended his campus in a letter to the editor of the Times Union. “The entire campus is a work of art – and I am not the artsy type,” he wrote in response to the opinion that the campus is unsightly. The campus exemplifies the signature style Edward Durell Stone used in his major projects between 1954 and 1970, including the United States Embassy in New Delhi, India; the Hotel Phoenicia in Beirut, Lebanon; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.; 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan, NYC; and the Aon Center, originally the Standard Oil Building, in Chicago. The academic buildings are located on the monolithic "Podium", a huge rectangular structure in the center of campus. The podium on which Stone clustered the academic buildings brought the disciplines together in a unified way, giving them all the same architecture and connecting them through stairways and walkways. Living and learning went hand in hand, with dormitories built within walking distance of classroom spaces. In the original design, automobiles were relegated to the perimeter of the campus. The Podium's architectural centerpiece is the "Carillon", a tall, cylindrical carillon that electronically emulates the sound of the original 15th century mechanical design. By employing various musical patterns, it is used to signal the beginning of hourly scheduled classes. At the base of the carillon is a large fountain, which is perhaps the most well recognized and appreciated feature of the campus. On the west end of the Uptown Campus is the Albany Nanotech facility. The 450,000-square-foot (42,000 m²), $3.5 billion facility consists of three buildings. NanoFab 200, also known as CESTM (Center for Environmental Science and Technology Management) houses a majority of the metrology or characterization tools, the National Weather Service (NWS), the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (ASRC), the 200 mm clean rooms, and various labs and offices. NanoFab 300 North houses the only 300 mm processing line in the academic world, as well as a massive cleanroom for industrial R&D. NanoFab 300 South houses the academic offices of the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, classrooms, a caferteria, offices, labs, and an additional cleanroom in the annex (NanoFab 300X). A fourth building (NanoFab 300 East) is set to open in 2008 and will hold additional lab, office, and cleanroom space.

Uptown Campus Housing

The Uptown Campus is home to six of the university's seven dormitory complexes. Four of these—Indian Quad, Dutch Quad, Colonial Quad, and State Quad—sit at the Podium's corners; each consists of eight three-story low-rise buildings encircling a 22-story tower with a total capacity of 1,200 students each. The four quads serve as a chronological timeline of New York State history, beginning with Indian Quad, moving clockwise to Dutch, then Colonial, and finally, State. The other two, Freedom Quad and Empire Commons, are reserved for juniors, seniors, graduate students (Empire only), or married couples; these are "apartment-style" and include kitchens, furnished living rooms, and on Empire: washers, dryers, dishwashers, single bedrooms, central air conditioning. Students living on Empire's E block (E1-E3) have the previously mentioned amenities along with private bathrooms (one in each bedroom). The Uptown Campus is also home to two of the university's three libraries, the University Library and the Science Library.

Downtown Campus

The Downtown Campus, located at 135 Western Ave., is the site of the original New York State College for Teachers. Construction began in 1909 on the first three buildings: Draper, Husted and Hawley halls, after the previous location on Willett Street burned down. Later additions to the campus were Richardson Hall, Page Hall and The Milne School (all in 1929), along with additions to Draper and Richardson halls (both in the 1960s). The Downtown Campus is home to the University's Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, School of Criminal Justice, College of Computing and Information, and School of Social Welfare. The Downtown Campus is also home to one of the University's three libraries, the Thomas E. Dewey Graduate Library, located in Hawley Hall. The Downtown Campus is located just one mile (1.6 km) from the New York State Capitol building and Empire State Plaza. Alumni Quad, one of the university's seven dormitory complexes, is a short distance away from the Downtown Campus. Students living on Alumni Quad are typically sophomores, transfer students and international students (who are generally placed in Waterbury or Pierce Hall). Alumni Quad was named to commemorate the college's alumni who initiated a fundraising campaign to construct the residence halls.

East Campus

The East Campus, located in East Greenbush, is home to the School of Public Health, and the new Cancer Research Center, dubbed "Gen*NY*sis." Also located in this state-of-the-art facility is the Center for Functional Genomics, which facilitates research in the areas of microarrays, proteomics, molecular biology and transgenics.

Event Facilities

Campus Center

The Campus Center is the community center of the University at Albany, serving students, faculty, professional staff, alumni, and guests. Traditionally considered the "hearthstone" or "living room" of the campus, the Campus Center provides services and conveniences that community members need in their daily life. These include lounging areas and famous chain eateries. The Campus Center seeks to create an environment for getting to know and understand others through formal and informal interactions. Facility Reservations: The Campus Center Facilities & Operations function coordinates and manages the eight meeting rooms and Ballroom that comprise the conference portion of this multi-faceted building. During the academic year, the Campus Center’s meeting rooms host over 9,000 persons/month for meetings and functions within the building’s confines. Assuring that each is afforded of pleasant, comfortable accommodations is a goal of this office.

History

The University was chartered in 1844 as a normal school, charged with the task of training teachers as part of the Common School movement. The teachers' college joined with dozens of other state-run institutions of higher learning across New York with the founding of the State University of New York system in 1948. In 1962 the University at Albany was officially designated a doctoral-degree granting University Center by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. The same year, Rockefeller broke ground for the current main campus of the University on the former site of the Albany Country Club.

Evolution

Name Period
State Normal School May 1844 – March 1890
New York State Normal College March 1890 – April 1914
New York State College for Teachers April 1914 – September 1959
State University of New York College of Education at Albany September 1959 – October 1961
State University College at Albany October 1961 – June 1962
State University of New York at Albany (the University's legal name) June 1962 – present
University at Albany, SUNY (common name) Fall 1986 – present

Presidents and Principals

  • David Perkins Page (1844 – 1848)
  • George R. Perkins (1848 – 1852)
  • Samuel B. Woolworth, LL.D. (1852 – 1856)
  • David Cochran, A.M., Ph.D. (1856 – 1864)
  • Oliver Avery (1864 – 1867)
  • Samuel B. Woolworth, LL.D. (1867)—Acting
  • Joseph Alden, D.D., LL.D. (1867 – 1882) —First to be called "President"
  • Edward P. Waterbury, A.M., Ph.D. (1882 – 1889)
  • Albert N. Husted (1889)—Acting
  • William J. Milne, M.S., Ph.D., LL.D. (1889 – 1914)
  • Leonard Blue (1914 – 1915) —Acting
  • Abram Roy Brubacher, Ph.D. (1915 – 1939)
  • John Sayles, Pd.B. (1939 – 1947) —Acting
  • Milton Nelson, Ph.D. (1947 – 1949) —Acting
  • Evan R. Collins (1949 – 1969)
  • Allan A. Kuusisto, Ph.D. (1969 – 1970) —Acting
  • Louis T. Benezet Ph.D. (1970 – 1975)
  • Emmett B. Fields, Ph.D. (1975 – 1977)
  • Vincent O'Leary (1977 – 1990)
  • Judith Ramaley, Ph.D. (1990)—Acting
  • H. Patrick Swygert, J.D. (1990 – 1995)
  • Karen R. Hitchcock (1996 – 2003)
  • Carlos Santiago (2004)—Acting
  • John R. Ryan (2004 – 2005) —Acting
  • Kermit L. Hall, Ph.D. (2005 – 2006)
  • Susan Herbst (2006 – 2007 ) —Acting, Officer-in-Charge
  • George H. Philip (2007 – ) Officer-in-Charge, interim president

Noted faculty

  • Manuel Alvar (deceased), head of the Spanish Royal Academy, world renowned for his linguistic atlases of Spain and Spanish South America.
  • Victor Asal, political science. Expert on terrorism and director of the Certificate Program in Public Security.
  • Ronald A. Bosco, Distinguished University Professor of English & American Literature (2004), Distinguished Service Professor(1992), Collins Fellow, Grand Marshal of the University. President, The Association for Documentary Editing. General Editor, The Collected Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Harvard; has edited, co-edited (primarily with Joel Myerson), and authored over 20 volumes on Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Michael Wigglesworth, and Cotton Mather.
  • Don Byrd, poet and literary critic. His works include his poetry collection Technics of Travel, the book-length poems The Great Dimestore Centennial and Aesop's Garden, an analysis of Charles Olson's Maximus, and his masterpiece of literary analysis The Poetics of the Common Knowledge.
  • Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, Spanish Novelist (1910-1999). Distinguished Professor at the university from 1966 to 1970.
  • Gordon G. Gallup, evolutionary psychologist; developed the mirror test.
  • Thomas Galvin, (deceased), founding director of the Ph.D. in Information Studies or Informatics. He was a former director of the American Library Association, and an authority on information science.
  • John S. Justeson, linguistic anthropologist responsible for the decipherment of the Epi-Olmec script.
  • Leonard Kastle director of The Honeymoon Killers and notable American opera composer Of Deseret, The Pariahs and others
  • William Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning professor. Kennedy taught creative writing and journalism as an instructor from 1974 to 1982 at the University. In 1983, Kennedy was awarded the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Part of that award went to the institution of Kennedy's choice, which was UAlbany. The University made a commitment to match the funds he donated—$15,000 for five years (each), to create a writers' institute. The following year, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo signed into law the legislation creating the New York State Writers Institute.
  • Paul Kurtz, philosopher and director of the Center For Inquiry
  • Michael J. Malbin, political science. Expert on campaign finance, and former speech writer to Richard B. Cheney.
  • Jon Mandle, philosopher. Author of several books. Chair of philosophy department.
  • Ron McClamrock, philosopher. Works at the intersection of phenomenology and psychology.
  • Paul Pimsleur (deceased), linguist and educator. Author of Pimsleur Language Series. Pimsleur's research focused on the language acquisition process.
  • Vincent Schaefer (deceased), founder and longtime director of the Atmospheric Science Research Center (ASRC).
  • Richard E. Stearns (emeritus), Turing award winner for computational complexity theory.
  • Bonnie Steinbock, philosopher. Noted expert on reproductive ethics. Former chair of philosophy department.
  • Omar J. Vázquez, advanced doctoral erudition; author of Classical Western Canon and several texts.
  • Bernard Vonnegut (deceased), atmospheric scientist renowned for his expertise in the physics of lightning. As a colleague of Vincent Schaefer at General Electric in 1946, Vonnegut discovered how to seed clouds with silver iodide shortly after Schaefer discovered the first successful method of cloud seeding, with dry ice. Older brother of author Kurt Vonnegut.

Noted alumni

Student Association

The Student Association, or SA is the umbrella organization encompassing all aspects of anything student oriented on campus. We run every single concert, and comedy show as well as fund more than 250 students groups. We have our hands in every aspect of students lives outside and inside the classroom. From Intramural sports to general education requirements the SA is always working on behalf of the student body. The Student Association works similar to the United States government, with 3 branches, an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch.[5] UAlbany Student Association Wikipedia

Executive Branch

The Executive Branch consists of individuals responsible for carrying out the various day-to-day operations of the Student Association. Included in the Executive Branch are the President, Vice President, Comptroller, Chief of Staff, Programming Director, Marketing Director, Athletics Director, ATV Director, Multicultural Affairs Director, the Gender and Sexuality Concerns Director, Interfaith Advisor, and varios other staff members. The President acts as the chief liaison between the student body and the administration. The President is responsible to coordinate the executive branch as well as to guide the Student Association as a whole. The Vice President is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Student Association. He also serves as a liaison between undergraduate students and the administration. The Comptroller is the chief financial officer of the Student Association; he works with student groups to ensure fiscal responsibility. As well organizes the Student Association banking, and voucher system. The Chief of Staff is the executive assistant to the President. The Chief of Staff works, jointly with the President to further strengthen the Student Associations relationship with the administration. As well as he serves as a liaison between the Student Association and Student Groups. The Programming Director is responsible for coordinating Student Association events. The director is charged with organizing concerts, comedy shows, the SA “Back to School” block party, and Parkfest. He is also responsible with managing SA Co-Sponsorship of events. The Marketing Director is in charge of marketing the Student Association and its events. The director works with the Programming Department, to create effective marketing strategies for the Student Association. The Athletics Director organizes our Intramural Sports program, in which over 3,000 students participate. As well he is responsible for overseeing the various activities of our club teams, Rugby, Hockey, Baseball, Volleyball, and more. The ATV Director coordinates the student run portion of Albany Television on channels 16 & 19. The Multicultural Affairs Director coordinates the activities of the various Multicultural groups which the SA funds. As well the director organizes Student Association Multicultural programming, the Cultural Carnival, and the Unity Dinner.

Legislative Branch

The legislative branch we call the SA Senate. Senators represent various constituents. 12 Senators are elected in the spring at-large, by the entire undergraduate student body. The remaining senators are elected in the fall, by their respective quads. The Senators handle student issues and concerns through resolutions and legislation as well are responsible for appropriating funds to student groups. The Senate meets weekly at 8 PM, in the Campus Center Assembly Hall. Meetings are open to all visitor.[6]

Judicial Branch

The Judicial Branch, which we call the Supreme Court, is composed of students appointed by the President and then approved by the SA Senate. This is very much like the United States Supreme Court - people can appeal to the court if they feel that a group or a person has violated the constitution of the Student Association and the action or decision needs to be overturned.

Athletics

Albany Great Danes logo
Albany Great Danes logo
Main article: Albany Great Danes

All athletics are run by the University at Albany Department of Athletics and Recreation. After the 1972 NCAA restructuring, the university competed in Division III athletics till the 1995-96 school year. The university would remain in Division II athletics until 1999 and currently has 19 varsity sports (8 men, 11 women) competing at the Division I level. Albany athletics however dates back to the late 1890s. The school's sports teams are called the Great Danes and participates in Division I sports in the America East Conference since 2001. Football participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (former Division I-AA) as an associate member of the Northeast Conference. The school is the only college or university with the Great Dane as its mascot. UAlbany Division I History: 27 Conference Championships 13 NCAA Tournaments, since entering NCAA Division I Athletics in 2000 Conference Championships: Mens's Basketball: 2006, 2007 Men's Lacrosse: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 Men's Indoor Track: 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 Men's Outdoor Track: 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 Men's Football: 2002, 2003, 2007 Women's softball: 2005, 2006, 2007 Women's volleyball: 2004, 2006, 2007 Women's outdoor track: 2006, 2007 Baseball: 2007 Women's golf: 2004

Fight song

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Purple and gold,
your colors shining through
Hear as the carillons
are ringing true
The State of New York
sends up its cheer to you
Let’s go Albany!

Hail, young and old
We shall prevail,
purple and gold
One true triumphant call
Albany Danes are standing tall

Purple and gold,
our flags are waving high,
sending our victory song
into the sky
All of the world will fear
our mighty cry
Let’s go Albany!

Libraries

The University at Albany Libraries provide more than two million volumes, and rank amongst the top 100 research libraries in the United States (Association of Research Libraries). Users from around the world can access services and collections through the libraries' online systems and Web site. The university's libraries offer a program of information literacy and user education with instruction that ranges from a focus on traditional bibliographic access to collaborative classes integrated into the curriculum.

UAlbany Alma Mater

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College of the Empire State,
Mother of an army great,
Thou the molder of our fate,
Thee we sing today.
Thine the hand with clasp so strong,
Holding tho' the years be long,
Thou the burden of our song,
Thee we sing today.

Ways of pleasantness are thine,
Leading where in wisdom's shrine,
Joy and cheer, and hope divine,
Ever dwell for aye.
Thine the voice whose call we hear,
Thine the hand which holds us near,
Thine the heart, so true, so dear,
Cherished, loved alway.

Wisdom's duty heeds thy call,
Ever in Minerva's thrall,
Pass the torch from one to all,
Guide each destiny.
'Neath the Purple and the Gold,
Let thy history unfold,
Sons and daughters, young and old,
Long live the struggle strong
Hail to Albany.

Miscellaneous

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
Traditional Fountain Day Celebration at UAlbany's Uptown Campus
Traditional Fountain Day Celebration at UAlbany's Uptown Campus
  • The school's colors are purple and gold.
  • The Student Association of the university owns an 850-acre (3.4 km²) wilderness retreat facility in the Adirondack mountains called "Camp Dippikill". The Cabins and Campsites at Dippikill are open to reservations from University at Albany Undergraduates, Graduate Students, Alumni, Faculty and Staff.
  • Transportation on the uptown campus is facilitated by buses run by the university which run shuttles around the campus. Buses between campus are facilitated jointly by the university and by the Capital District Transportation Authority; the university with links to the East Campus and from Freedom Quad/Empire Commons to area supermarkets, CDTA with most downtown-uptown service plus special service timed to school breaks.
  • In academic years ending in 1998 and 2004, the Princeton Review ranked UAlbany as "The #1 Party School in America". In 2005 the dubious honor was taken by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This ranking is contested by the University, and many students, who claim that the ranking is based upon a non-scientific survey, and that the reality of the school is more academic. The way that the survey is taken is by going into one freshman sociology class and asking the students how many times they drink in a week. Generally speaking, the survey is taken after the school’s “fountain day” which is described in another section of this article. By only asking the freshman students at SUNY Albany at the strategic time of the year that they take the survey, and only asking the junior students at other universities the Princeton survey can skew their article to get a better desired result and henceforth sell more copies of their book. The school has done much to change that image, and the latest survey ranks Albany as the number 20 party school in the country.[1]
  • On the University Seal is Minerva, the Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom. But because Minerva was also identified with the Greek goddess Athena, she also became the goddess of war and victory. This famous statue was purchased in 1888 and rescued by Charles Wurtham (a custodian) from a devastating fire in the college's administrative offices. This seven-foot, white plaster landmark of the University at Albany is on display in the Science Library foyer (Uptown Campus). While there is no official record of where the statue of Minerva came from, it is reported that she was purchased with funds from a $1 student fee collected for make-up exams.
  • As UAlbany is located in the capital city of New York State and is one of the four University centers of New York, its unofficial nickname is the "College of the Empire State" (which is in the first line of the University's school song).
  • UAlbany is home to one of the oldest independent college newspapers in the nation, the Albany Student Press. Published continuously since 1916, the newspaper has a circulation of more than 10,000 and serves the students and surrounding area.
  • On April 17, 2005 students from the University at Albany set and currently hold the record for the world's largest pillow fight with 3,648 participants, observed by Guinness Records officials.[7]
  • There is a network of underground maintenance tunnels open to students that allow access to many of the Uptown Campus's central buildings. Joggers often utilize these tunnels during winter, as they are heated year-round by large hot water pipes.
  • The University also hosts a Relay For Life, an American Cancer Society Benefit. UAlbany has hosted it for 3 years now. Last year over 1,200 students, faculty, and community members participated raising over $97,000. This year the Relay For Life is set to be held on April 5-6, 2008.

Notes

  1. ^ http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/profiles/data/ess_ranking.cfm#E002835
  2. ^ http://www.jbhe.com/news_views/49_blackenrollment_publicivies.html
  3. ^ http://www.suny.edu/provost/MissionReview/MOU/Albany.pdf
  4. ^ http://cnse.albany.edu/downloads/Small%20Times%20May-June%202006.pdf
  5. ^ University at Albany Student Association http://www.Albany.edu/StudentAssociation
  6. ^ Student Association Senate http://www.albany.edu/~SASenate
  7. ^ Guinness World Records

The Ualbany Fund is UAlbany's primary fund raiser.

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