Items tagged with 'ualbany'
Aly Raisman at UAlbany
Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman will be at UAlbany's SEFCU Arena December 3. And ticketing for the event is now open; the tickets are free, but there's an online registration process -- see the link.
Raisman will be talking about her memoir Fierce: How Competing for Myself Changed Everything. She's won six Olympic medals, including the team gold at both the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. And Raisman has also been outspoken about the abuse perpetrated by the USA Gymnastics team doctor and the need for change within the organization and the sport.
The UAlbany event starts at 7:30 pm (doors at 6:30 pm) that Monday, December 3. Note: "No Cameras, flash photography or recording devices will be permitted. ... Bags are discouraged and subject to search."
It's sponsored by a bunch of UAlbany organizations, and is part of the NYS Writers Institute visiting writers series.
Here are some of the options for remaking upper Washington Ave in Albany
One of the options would re-stripe the road to include bike lanes.
The part of Washington Ave by UAlbany and the Harriman State Office Campus is a weird stretch. It's really wide. All sorts of ramps slip on and off it. There's been a lot of development, but it's hard to get from one thing to another. Pedestrians dart across it. And the speed limit probably feels frustratingly slow for drivers.
So: Are there ways to fix some of these issues, making the street work better and feel better for all sorts of people -- pedestrians, cyclists, drivers?
For the past six months the Washington Avenue-Patroon Creek Corridor Study -- a collaboration between the Capital District Transportation Committee, city of Albany, University at Albany, and engineering consultants -- has been looking into that question.
And Thursday evening during a crowded public meeting at UAlbany the engineers showed off a trio of possible designs for making over the road...
2018 Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region
We got a few minutes Friday afternoon to stop by the 2018 Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region exhibit at UAlbany's University Art Museum. The annual exhibit is now in its 82nd year and it's said to be the longest running annual juried exhibition in the country. It's open to artists living within 100 miles of Albany and Glens Falls and rotates among a group of local institutions.
Blurbage for this year's exhibit:
Juried by sculptor and installation artist Jean Shin, the 2018 Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region Exhibition features 78 works by 39 artists. Chosen from over 1,500 entries by 371 artists, the exhibition reflects the expansive range of issues and subject matter that contemporary artists are dealing with in the Capital Region and in the larger art world. Thirty area businesses, individuals, and organizations contributed exhibition support, juror and purchase awards, and gift certificates, demonstrating continued commitment to the exhibition, as well as an appreciation of the contribution artists make to life in our community.
One thing that immediately caught our eye about this year's exhibit was the prominence of colorful, geometric works.
To accompany the Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region the University Art Museum has also put together an exhibit called FLOW featuring works by UAlbany alumni that have appeared in previous Mohawk Hudson Region exhibitions. It's in an attached gallery upstairs.
The 2018 Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region exhibit will be on display through December 8. The University Art Museum is on the uptown UAlbany campus in the Academic Podium, not far from the the fountain.
Jean Shin
Jean Shin -- a sculptor, and this year's Artists of the Mohawk Hudson Region juror -- will be at UAlbany this Thursday, November 1 for a Creative Life discussion with WAMC's Joe Donahue. It's 7 pm in the Performing Arts Center on the uptown campus and it's free and open to the public.
Colson Whitehead is the next New York State Author, Alicia Ostriker the next State Poet
Colson Whitehead and Alicia Ostriker
The next New York State Author will be Colson Whitehead, and the next State Poet will be Alicia Ostriker.
Their selection was announced this week -- and they'll be inaugurated at the opening of the Albany Book Festival at UAlbany Friday, September 28 at 7:30 pm. Both writers will be reading at the event, which is free and open to the public.
Colson Whitehead is, of course, a famous novelist whose most recent work -- The Underground Railroad -- won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.
Alicia Suskin Ostriker is a poet and poetry critic. Bio blurbage: "Alicia Ostriker, the author of sixteen volumes of poetry, is one of the most acclaimed poets, as well as one of the most influential poetry critics of her generation. Joyce Carol Oates asserts that her 'iconoclastic expression, whether in prose or poetry, is essential to understanding our American selves.' Ostriker's work explores motherhood, womanhood, social justice, Jewish identity and-- in the words of poet Joan Larkin-- 'takes on nothing less than what it feels like to be alive.'"
The first Albany Book Festival will be at UAlbany this fall and the lineup is stacked with notable authors
The lineup includes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, food writer/Splendid Table host Francis Lam, and Harvard professor Annette Gordon-Reed who won the Pulitzer Prize (and a bunch of other awards) for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family.
The New York State Writers Institute has the first Albany Book Festival set for September 29 on the UAlbany campus. And holy moly is the lineup stacked.
Among the authors who will be there: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Gregory Maguire, Mark Kurlansky, Francis Lam, Michael W. Twitty, Annette Gordon-Reed, Walter Mosley, Laura Lippman, Khizr Khan. (A fuller lineup is below.)
Festival blurbage:
A message from NYS Writers Institute Director Paul Grondahl:
"The Albany Book Festival is a new initiative for us and we ask you to join us in creating something truly amazing that elevates UAlbany and our capital city for years to come." ...
Bookstores, publishers, literary organizations, and vendors of book-related merchandise will fill numerous display tables and close to 100 local authors will also participate, signing and selling copies of their books.
The book festival will be Saturday, September 29 from 10 am to 4 pm in the new section of the UAlbany campus center on the uptown campus. It's free and open to the public.
The pedagogy penguin
This illustration of the pedguin is from university literary publication, The Penguin. Brian shared it on Twitter this week. We think the pedguin projects quite a sophisticated air as he or she sips tea.
A stray bit that of local history that made us smile this week...
UAlbany's current mascot is a dog, specifically a Great Dane named Damien. But for a few decades last century -- when UAlbany was called the New York State College for Teachers and the State University of New York College of Education at Albany -- the mascot was a penguin.
Or, rather, it was the "Pedguin." From a UAlbany News item:
Then came 1948-49, and someone realized that another name for "teachers" -- "pedagogues" -- could be shortened into a new and catchy sports nickname: "Peds." It was used first in a State College News basketball game write-up on Dec. 3, 1948, and became dominant. Again, however, it was a nickname without a mascot.
That inanimate situation ended on May 13, 1949, when it was announced that the student body had chosen "Pedguin," a penguin-like figure designed by Paul Kirsch '51, as school mascot. In both scholarly and cuddly manifestations -- drawn, sewn (on patches), stuffed and, in late '50s and early '60s basketball games, costumed -- the Pedguin remained the college's mascot until a new university identify cried out for something beyond the symbol of the teacher.
Yes, the pedagogy penguin. Prepare to be schooled!
The school switched over to the Great Dane in 1965 via a contest that asked students for submissions. Belated congrats to Kathy Earle '57 who suggested the Great Dane because of its "proud bearing and imposing stature."
UAlbany timeline
By the way: There's a good timeline of UAlbany history online that tracks the charts the various names of the school and other developments.
Tyler Oakley at UAlbany
YouTuber/LGBTQ+ activist Tyler Oakley will be at UAlbany March 27 for a talk. It's free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required.
Oakley's talk is part of the university speaker series that's brought in Octavia Spencer and Sonia Sotomayor during the past year. Talk blurbage:
With more than 7.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 23 million across his social media platforms, Oakley has been established as one of the nation's most influential LGBTQ+ vloggers.
Among his many accomplishments, Oakley has been a consultant for President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama on using digital platforms to connect with youth; raised more than $1 million for The Trevor Project; and has been nominated - and won - numerous awards.
He was also named one of Time Magazine's "30 Most Influential People on the Internet," included in The Hollywood Reporter's "Top 25 Digital Stars" two years in a row and is on the 2017 Forbes "30 Under 30" list.
Here's one of Oakley's recent YouTube videos in which he goes skating with Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon.
The UAlbany talk is Tuesday, March 27 at 7:30 pm in SEFCU Arena. Doors open at 6:30, the printed registration confirmation will be required for entry, and seating will be first come, first sit.
photo: Luke Fontana
UAlbany wants to upgrade its Alumni Quad, and it's looking for input from the public
Alumni Quad in the summer of 2016.
Update update: The rescheduled public meeting is March 8 in the Husted Hall Amphitheater on the downtown campus at 6 pm.
Update: This public meeting has postponed to a later date because of weather.
UAlbany is thinking about the future of its Alumni Quad -- an almost-10 acre piece of land that sits right in the heart of Albany's Pine Hills neighborhood -- and it's looking for some community input about that possible future.
There's a public meeting about those plans February 7 on the downtown campus. The university says officials will be talking about the current state of Alumni Quad, what's in the works for there, and then they'll throw it open for comments from community members.
Here's a little bit more about UAlbany's thinking about, along with a few things about how it connects to some other projects and the wider neighborhood.
Octavia Spencer will be the featured speaker at UAlbany's homecoming
Oscar-winning actor Octavia Spencer will be the featured speaker for UAlbany's homecoming this year. She'll be at the SEFCU Arena Saturday, October 21 at 8 pm. The event is free and open to members of the general public, but registration is required (see the link for details).
Spencer won the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in The Help. And she was nominated again this past year for Hidden Figures.
Here's the full list of homecoming events.
SEFCU Arena sits about 4,000 people for this sort of event. But it's not a bad idea to claim a ticket sooner rather than later. Seating in general admission will be first arrive, first sit.
"Telling the Truth in a Post-truth World" series at UAlbany
HuffPost editor in chief (and former TU reporter) Lydia Polgreen is one of the panelists for the symposium. / photo via Lydia Polgreen Facebook
Tucked into the new schedule of fall events for the New York State Writers Institute is mention of a series of events -- including a big gathering at UAlbany's downtown campus October 13-14 -- called "Telling the Truth in a Post-truth World." Blurbage:
What is truth in an era that has been called post-truth?
What does it mean that Oxford Dictionaries declared "post-truth" its international word of the year in 2016? Or that Time magazine recently asked on its cover: "Is Truth Dead?"
The New York State Writers Institute presents a series of events, culminating in a two-day conference featuring acclaimed journalists, authors, historians, and First Amendment scholars, who will share their views on issues including "fake news;" Constitutional protections for a free press; information overload; the shifting roles of social media; hacking and cybersecurity; and more.
The October 13-14 symposium slate includes a bunch of discussions featuring high-profile journalists, media thinkers, and academics. Among them: Lydia Polgreen, Bob Schieffer, Bill Keller, Amy Goodman, Tim Wu, Harry Rosenfeld, Maria Hinojosa, Jeff Jarvis, and Gilbert King.
And October 12, author/journalist/radio host Kurt Andersen will be on the uptown campus for a conversation. Admission for that talk is $30 and includes a copy of Andersen's new book, Fantasyland.
Here's the panel lineup for the symposium...
The next UAlbany president is Havidán Rodríguez
Havidán RodrÃguez. / screengrab from SUNY Board of Trustees livestream
The next president of the University at Albany is Havidán Rodríguez. The SUNY Board of Trustees approved his appointment to the position at its meeting Wednesday afternoon. He'll start in September.
Rodríguez has been serving as the provost (the top academic administrator) at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, an institution that was formed in 2015 from the merger of two other UT institutions. He had served as provost and interim president for one of those institutions, the University of Texas-Pan American. Other stops in his career include the University of Delaware and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez.
In introducing Rodríguez Wednesday, SEFCU CEO Michael Castellana -- who chaired the search committee -- said his selection was unanimous: "He is going to bring that university outside of its walls and he's going transform this area."
Said Rodríguez in a short speech following his appointment:
UAlbany taking a step forward on the Schuyler Building conversion, just not as far as it hoped
Quick update on UAlbany's plan to convert the Schuyler Building into the home for its new engineering college...
UAlbany did not get the $20 million it was seeking for the project as part of the state budget. But the university said this week it has gathered up enough funding for the exterior work on the building it had planned for later this year, including new windows and some masonry touch-ups. (You might notice the scaffolding going up in a few months.) Other exterior work -- such as roof repair -- had already been in progress.
The overall plan for the Schuyler Building -- a former Albany school district school building adjacent to the UAlbany downtown campus at Western and Lake -- is a $60 million renovation that would convert the space so it could house the new College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
UAlbany had requested the $20 million during this past budget cycle to pay for the first phase of the interior renovations. University spokesman Karl Luntta said this week via email that UAlbany is still in the hunt for that full $20 million.
UAlbany to face the death star of women's college basketball in the NCAA tournament
UAlbany beat Maine for the America East title and a spot in the NCAA tournament. / screengrab: ESPNU
The good news: The UAlbany women's basketball team is headed to the NCAA tournament for the sixth straight year after winning their conference title yet again.
The not-good news: The Great Danes got a #16 seed and will be facing #1 overall seed UConn in the first round. At UConn's on-campus arena.
The NCAA released the brackets for the tournament Monday. UAlbany will face UConn Saturday at 11 am. The game will be on ESPN2.
To say that UConn is good is an understatement. UConn is the empire, the Death Star of women's college basketball.
Ticket info for Sonia Sotomayor at UAlbany
Back in December UAlbany announced that Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor would be speaking at SEFCU Arena April 4, and that it was tentatively planning for the event would be open to the public. Details were to be announced.
And now they're announced: Tickets for the general public will be released just after midnight this Friday, March 17 (so, overnight Thursday to Friday) -- that link includes details of how to claim a ticket via the online system. There only be one ticket released per registrant/email address. The tickets are free.
You can register now with the system if you'd like to save time when claiming a ticket on Friday.
SEFCU Arena seats about 4,000 people for an event like this. But it's not every day that a sitting Supreme Court justice stops in town to talk, so there's a good chance the event will be packed.
photo: Steve Petteway via Wikipedia
Checking in on UAlbany's plan to convert the Schuyler Building in Albany into the home of its new engineering college
A UAlbany rendering of what the converted building could look like.
It was just about a year ago that UAlbany officially announced a plan to turn a former Albany school district building next to its downtown campus into the home for the new College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The idea behind the $60 million project is that the conversion of the Schuyler Building would not only provide space for growing a public option for engineering education in this area, it would also be an injection of activity right into the city's midsection that could help set the surrounding neighborhood on a new, vibrant path. And UAlbany has been seeking $20 million from the state go get things going.
So, how's that coming along?
Michael Sam at UAlbany
Michael Sam -- the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team -- will be the keynote speaker for UAlbany's Sexualty Month February 7. The talk is free and open to the public.
Sam had a very good college football career, being named the co-defensive player of the year in the nation's best conference as a senior at Missouri. And his public acknowledgement of his sexual orientation made national headlines, including a high-profile interview on ESPN.
He got drafted by the then-St. Louis Rams near the end of the 2014 NFL draft but got cut before the regular season started. Dallas picked up him, but he didn't stick there. He was Dancing With the Stars. And then there was a a stint the Canadian Football League, which didn't work out. The promo materials for his talk identify him as an NFL free agent, so it sounds like he's still trying to make it in the league.
Keynote blurbage:
A role model and trailblazer for inclusion in sports, revered for his unswerving courage, graciousness and fortitude, Sam offers firsthand insight into leveraging individual personal strengths to pursue ones dreams, inspiring audiences with perspective on what it means to work hard to define and achieve success.
The talk at UAlbany is Tuesday, February 7 t 8 pm in the Campus Center Ballroom on the uptown campus.
It's one of multiple events the university has scheduled for its sexuality month.
Public meeting to take comments about UAlbany's big, new ETEC building
There's a public meeting Wednesday evening to take questions and input about the new Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurship Complex (ETEC) building that UAlbany is planning to construct on the southwest corner of the Harriman State Office Campus. The meeting is from 6-7 pm in SEFCU Arena (Hall of Fame Room), with free parking in the arena lot.
The purpose of the public meeting is for an environmental review of the project, and questions and comments from the public will be logged for the record. We hear that UAlbany officials will also be there to informally answer questions about the project as best they can.
As mentioned, this is a big project -- a four-story, 243,000 square feet buiding with a price tag of $184 million. (You might remember its announcement this past February.)
Blurbage from the project's (really long) supplemental environment impact statement doc for the project:
Sonia Sotomayor at UAlbany
Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor will be speaking at UAlbany's SEFCU Arena April 4. The event will be free and open to the UAlbany community, with details about registration still to come.
The event is part of the university's speaker series that has brought Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, Russell Simmons, and Bill Nye to campus in recent years. Some of these events have ended up being open to the public depending on the availability of space.
We heard from UAlbany today that in addition to being open to the immediate UAlbany community, the university is hoping to also open the event further to at least include alumni. SEFCU Arena seats about 4,000 people for an event like this.
So, if you're an alum and/or a member of the general public and think you'd like to go -- keep an eye out for details about available space in upcoming months. (We'll share them here, too, when they become available.) It's not every day you have a chance to see a sitting Supreme Court justice speak.
photo: Steve Petteway via Wikipedia
A night match on the pitch
The other kind of football.
The local college sports that tend to get the most attention in the Capital Region are basketball and hockey. And that's understandable -- the local teams usually do well in their conferences, and sometimes make a bigger, national splash.
But the calendar's full of other sporting events. For example: Tuesday night UAlbany's men's soccer team took on Syracuse at (the relatively new and very nice) Casey Stadium. We'd never caught a soccer game there, so we dropped in.
It was a lot of fun! Tickets were just $7 -- if you get there a few minutes early you can snag one of the seats with a chair back. Parking was free, easy, and close. There was even a good-sized crowd (1,000+).
And UAlbany won 2-1, pulling off the upset against #3 Syracuse, thanks to a few opportunistic goals and some gritty goalkeeping.
Not bad for a Tuesday night.
General registration now open for UAlbany Humans of New York event
Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton.
A quick update on that Humans of New York event at UAlbany October 8...
Registration is now open for the general public -- UAlbany says people should register via the homecoming weekend registration page. (It's OK if you're not an alum or somehow connected to the school.) The event is in the SEFCU Arena, and a UAlbany rep told us this week they're expecting there should be room for everyone who wants to attend. (The registration is to keep a headcount just in case.)
And if you didn't see the earlier post: Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton will be at UAlbany Saturday, October 8 for about the very popular photography series. It's at 8 pm and it's free.
The event is one of a whole bunch of events for UAlbany's homecoming weekend, October 7-9, many of which are open to the public.
photo via Humans of New York Twitter
Interim UAlbany president named
The SUNY Board of Trustees announced Wednesday that James Stellar will serve as as UAlbany's interim president after current president Robert Jones leaves at the end of this month for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Stellar is currently provost and a senior vice president at the university, and has been involved with starting both the new College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity. Press release blurbage:
Stellar previously served at CUNY's Queens College as vice president for Academic Innovation and Experiential Education from 2013 to 2015, and provost and vice president for academic affairs from 2009 to 2014. Before joining CUNY, Stellar spent 22 years at Northeastern University in Boston, where he served for a decade as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences as well as professor and chair of psychology and associate dean for undergraduate affairs. He began his academic career at Harvard University, serving eight years as assistant and then associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Social Relations, and as a neuroscience researcher at the McLean Hospital of Harvard Medical School.
He earned his doctorate in biological psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa.
UAlbany says Stellar will be paid $390,000 with an additional $110,000 from the SUNY Research Foundation. (That's basically what Jones was paid at the start of his term in 2012, plus a $60k housing allowance.)
For what it's worth: the UAlbany president before Robert Jones -- George Philip -- also started the job with the interim tag.
UAlbany has a lot of notable projects in progress right now, those two new colleges among the biggest. It's planning for $60 million conversion of the old Albany high school building at Western and Lake on the downtown campus into the home of the new engineering college (and, the hope is, for it to also serve as a hub for neighborhood development there). And it's building a $184 million project on the Harriman State Office Campus to house the emergency preparedness project. And it's also aiming to increase enrollment to 20,000 (from about 17,500 right now) by 2020.
Humans of New York founder at UAlbany
Brandon Stanton
Brandon Stanton -- the founder of the popular Humans of New York photography project -- will be at UAlbany October 8 for a talk. The event is free and will be open to the public, though priority will be given to students, alumni, and their families and friends.
Humans of New York has become very popular since it started in 2010, thanks in part to a huge following on Facebook. And it got another boost of attention this past week when it featured Hillary Clinton.
From the about page for Humans of New York:
The initial goal was to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers on the street, and create an exhaustive catalogue of the city's inhabitants.
Somewhere along the way, I began to interview my subjects in addition to photographing them. And alongside their portraits, I'd include quotes and short stories from their lives.
Taken together, these portraits and captions became the subject of a vibrant blog. HONY now has over twenty million followers on social media, and provides a worldwide audience with daily glimpses into the lives of strangers on the streets of New York City.
The UAlbany event is Saturday, October 8 at 8 pm in SEFCU Arena. Registration is currently via the university's homecoming events registration, which is open to alums, current students, faculty/staff, and friends and family.
A UAlbany spokesperson told us there will be a registration for the general public later on. And it sounds like there should be plenty of room -- SEFCU arena sits 4,000 people for an event like this. That said, HONY is popular, so if you're interested in going, registering earlier rather than later is a good idea.
photo via Humans of New York Twitter
A look around Aspen Albany, that new residential project near UAlbany aimed at students
Updated
You've probably noticed that new private dorm built along Washington Ave in Albany -- it's right across from the UAlbany uptown campus, and it overlooks I-90. It's hard to miss.
We were kind of curious about the place and figured you might be to, so stopped into the official ribbon cutting for the building Friday to gawk a bit. Here are a handful of details and pics, along with a few thoughts...
Imagining possible futures for the neighborhood around UAlbany's downtown campus
A new gateway for the neighborhood?
The ReZone Albany project was focused on the neighborhood surrounding UAlbany's downtown campus last week, a process that culminated in a few "big ideas" for the neighborhood and a bunch of renderings imagining how the future could play out there.
The focus on the neighborhood at the heart of the city was prompted in part by UAlbany's planned $60 million renovation of the former Albany hight school building at Western and Lake into the home of its new engineering college. As Jason King of Dover, Kohl -- the consultancy heading up last week's program -- said in reference to the investment and its potential spillover effects: "That makes this one of the most promising parts of the city."
Let's have a look at those ideas and renderings...
Painted scenes from Albany's history
Here's a larger view, if you'd like to look closer.
A bonus track from the post about the Rezone Albany downtown UAlbany neighborhood public event: We took a few minutes during Monday's session in Milne Hall 200 to take in the murals that circle the room. And they're worth a look if you ever have the chance.
Here's a UAlbany library page with images and descriptions of each of the murals.
The murals were created by artist David Cunningham Lithgow in 1935 and they each depict a scene from Albany's history (with one exception), among them Henry Hudson's arrival, the signing of the Dongan Charter, and -- as you can see in the pic above -- the courtship of Elizabeth Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton.
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?