Havidán Rodríguez

Dr. Havidán Rodríguez is the 20th president of the University at Albany, one of the nation’s most diverse R1 universities. He was the first Hispanic president of a SUNY four-year institution when he took office in September 2017. Under Dr. Rodríguez’s leadership, UAlbany has launched a campus-wide artificial intelligence initiative, opened two state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities, and become the first R1 institution in the northeast to earn the Seal of Excelencia for its commitment to Latina and Latino student success. In 2023, he led the return of the College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering to UAlbany, where it merged with an existing college to form the new College of Nanotechnology, Science, and Engineering, solidifying UAlbany as an essential partner in semiconductor and nanoscale research and contributing to Albany’s selection in 2024 as the site of a federal CHIPS & Science Act-funded National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC).

During Dr. Rodríguez’s tenure, UAlbany has extended the reach and impact of its globally significant research while also becoming a national leader for educational equity and social mobility. Also, during his tenure, UAlbany became one of the first 10 institutions in the nation to sign the Okanagan Charter, establishing itself as a Health-Promoting University.

Dr. Rodríguez has over 30 years of experience as a leader in higher education. He serves in leadership roles on numerous professional organizations, including the boards of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), Excelencia in Education, Campus Compact, and the America East Conference. He also serves as Commissioner for the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) and is a member of the Presidents and Chancellors Council on Public Impact Research established by the Pew Charitable Trusts. In 2022, Dr. Rodríguez was appointed to President Biden’s Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics. Led by Dr. Rodríguez, the Commission successfully advocated for the creation of a President’s Board of Advisors on Hispanic-Serving Institutions, which was established via Executive Order on July 17, 2024.

Dr. Rodríguez is actively involved in Capital Region economic development efforts, serving as co-chair of the New York State Capital Region Council for Economic Development (CREDC).

Dr. Rodríguez was also the Executive Director of SUNY’s Hispanic Leadership Institute (HLI) from 2020 to 2022.

Before coming to UAlbany, Dr. Rodríguez served as the founding provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) after having served as president, ad interim, and provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Texas – Pan American (UTPA). Prior to UTPA, Dr. Rodríguez served in various leadership roles at the University of Delaware, including deputy provost, vice provost for academic affairs and international programs, and director of the Disaster Research Center (DRC), the oldest and one of the leading social science disaster research centers in the world. He also served as director of the Minority Affairs Program at the American Sociological Association and held several administrative positions while on the faculty at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM) for over a decade.

Dr. Rodríguez has earned numerous recognitions and awards throughout his career, including the 2024 Humanitarian Spirit Award from the American Red Cross-Eastern New York, Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by City & State New York, 2021; Man of the Year by the New York League of Puerto Rican Women (2018); Inspiring Leaders in STEM Award by INSIGHT into Diversity (2017); Top Latino Leader by the Council for Latino Workplace Equity, National Diversity Council (2017); Cesar Estrada Chavez Award by the American Association of Access, Equity, and Diversity (2016); and the Alfredo G. de los Santos, Jr. Distinguished Leadership Award by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (2015). He is regularly listed among top Latino leaders, top Higher Education leaders, and top Upstate New York leaders in statewide and regional publications.

A respected social scientist and scholar in the area of disaster response and resiliency, Dr. Rodríguez has received extensive funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Ford Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the UPRM Sea Grant Program, and the State University of New York (SUNY), among others, for research projects focusing on the social science aspects of disasters; the differential impacts of COVID-19 in New York State; and for projects aimed at providing hands-on research training and mentoring to undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. He currently serves as the principal investigator for two grants, the NSF ADVANCE Adaptation: Project SAGES: Striving to Achieve Gender Equity in STEM, and the NIH-funded Endowment for Community-based Health Disparities Research and Training. He also served as PI for the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program: Training the Next Generation of Disaster Researchers; and for the NSF ADVANCE Adaptation and Institutional Transformation grant aimed at increasing the representation, participation, and leadership of women faculty in STEM fields. He was one of the project leadersfor the AASCU Frontier Set Project focusing on student success, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In addition to Dr. Rodríguez’s numerous journal articles and book chapters in the areas of disasters as well as Latinos/as in the United States, his publications include Addressing the Differential Impacts of Covid-19 In New York State: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Health and Inequality (co-edited with Holtgrave, Warner, Pardo, and Bennett Gayle, 2023); Severe Weather Warnings: An Interdisciplinary Approach (with Donner, Brotzge, and Diaz, 2022); Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico: Disaster, Vulnerability & Resiliency (co-edited with Mora and Dávila, 2021); the Handbook of Disaster Research 2nd Edition (co-edited with Donner and Trainor, 2018); Population, Migration, and Socioeconomic Outcomes among Island and Mainland Puerto Ricans: La Crisis Boricua (with Mora and Dávila, 2017); and Latinas/os in the United States: Changing the Face of América (with Saénz and Menjívar, 2008), among others. Dr. Rodríguez has also led and participated in many field research projects, including trips to Honduras following Hurricane Mitch; India and Sri Lanka following the Indian Ocean Tsunami; the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina; and Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. He was accepted into the Fulbright Specialist program in 2024.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Rodríguez earned a B.S. in psychology from the University of Maryland, an M.A. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a PhD in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Born in Puerto Rico and raised on the island and the U.S. mainland, Dr. Rodríguez is fully fluent in English and Spanish.