Release

UAlbany Foundation Announces Citizen Laureate Winners
Award recipients will be honored at a black-tie event on Sept. 21, Hall of Springs

Contact: Catherine Herman (518) 956-8150

ALBANY, N.Y. (August 31, 2006) -- R. Mark Sullivan, president of The College of Saint Rose; Richard C. Liebich, CEO of Cerbide Inc., Advanced Material Technology, Inc., and the Charitable Leadership Foundation as well as other charities; and Frank J. Thompson, faculty member and former dean of the University at Albany's Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, have been named recipients of the 2006 University at Albany Foundation Citizen Laureate Awards.

For more than twenty-six years, the Foundation's Citizen Laureate Awards have honored outstanding leaders in business and industry, government and academia, and are the highest honors bestowed by the University at Albany Foundation. Sullivan and Liebich will receive the Community Laureate Award, while Thompson will receive the Academic Laureate Award.

The award recipients will be honored at a black-tie dinner on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006 at the Hall of Springs in Saratoga Springs. Cocktails will be from 6 to 7 p.m. with the awards program and dinner to follow. Funds raised through this event will benefit the University at Albany through the University at Albany Foundation. Sponsorship of the dinner at $2,000 for a table of ten or $1,600 for a table of eight entitles an organization or group of individuals to priority seating, a prominent listing in the program and special acknowledgment at the event. Individual tickets are available for $150. For ticket information, call (518) 442-5310.

R. MARK SULLIVAN
R. Mark Sullivan has been president of The College of Saint Rose since 1996. He has led the College through a period of unprecedented growth, with enrollment increasing by 25 percent to 4,700 undergraduate and graduate students in 60 degree programs. Forty-five new faculty have been recruited to the institution from the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities, and the College recently received unconditional reaccreditation from The Middle States Association of Colleges and Universities, and initial accreditation of its School of Education by the prestigious National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The College of Saint Rose in 2005 was ranked as one of the top 60 master's level universities in the Northern region by U.S. News and World Report.

In recent years the College has invested nearly $50 million in new construction and technology upgrades, much of which has dramatically improved its campus in the Pine Hills neighborhood of Albany. Its highly successful capital campaign, "Advancing the Saint Rose Difference," raised nearly $26 million. The campaign increased alumni participation and drew support from many national foundations and government sources. The College's Thelma P. Lally School of Education, which opened in January of 2003, is one of the most advanced instructional and clinical settings for educator training in the nation.

Sullivan was executive vice president and COO of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. from 1987 to 1996, where he was instrumental in helping the college attract nearly $40 million in funding, including a multimillion dollar IBM/Marist joint study integrating academic and administrative information technology throughout the college environment. In addition, he led a campus development effort in which Marist invested more than $50 million to create new classroom buildings, computer labs, a student center, student housing, an addition to the athletic complex, and a nationally recognized computing and communications campus network.

Prior to his tenure at Marist, Sullivan was vice president for administration at Southern Connecticut State University. From 1978 to 1986, he was the assistant commissioner for the Connecticut Board of Governors for Higher Education, and in 1981 served as Connecticut's acting commissioner for Higher Education, where he helped create the Governor's Commission on Higher Education and the Economy.

A strong advocate of community service, Sullivan is an active volunteer in the community and is associated currently with the Hudson-Mohawk Association of Colleges and Universities, the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, the FAMtask Higher Education Committee and the Business-Higher Education Roundtable of the Capital Region. Throughout his tenure at Saint Rose, Sullivan has advocated and supported numerous partnerships and alliances with Albany and Capital Region organizations and institutions, and currently serves on the boards of the Albany Police Foundation, the Albany Local Development Corporation and the Key Bank District Advisory Board. He also serves as co-chair of Capitalize Albany, a task force created by Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings to guide the development of the state capital city.

RICHARD C. LIEBICH
Following his military service, Richard C. Liebich served as president of the Syracuse, N.Y. division of Sysco Foods, Inc. In 1979, he formed Transport National Development, an industrial cutting tool manufacturer in Orchard Park, New York, where he currently serves as CEO and chairman of the board. He serves in the same capacity at North American Carbide, a specialty cutting tool company, and is CEO of Cerbide Inc. and Advanced Material Technology, Inc., ceramic material companies located in Midland, Mich.

Liebich also further serves as CEO of Charitable Leadership Foundation (CLF), of Clifton Park, N.Y. The mission of the foundation is to support programs and organizations that address problems in the areas of education, housing (especially low-income), and job skills and economic opportunities for low-income people. CLF also supports initiatives in medicine, as well as medical research, by providing grants, loans and technical assistance to legally incorporated charitable organizations for projects, programs and capacity building appropriate to its mission.

Under the auspices of CLF, Liebich serves as CEO and chairs the Board of Directors of Project Lead The Way (PLTW), an organization dedicated to increasing the quality and quantity of engineers and engineering technology emerging from the public education system. PLTW was founded in 1997 and currently serves 1,700 schools in 47 states, including the District of Columbia.

Liebich also serves as CEO and a member of the Board of Trustees of Charitable Venture Foundation, which addresses the problems of society and education through innovation and entrepreneurship emphasizing individual responsibility. His community involvements include serving as chair of the College Council for Empire State College; as member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for Sponsor-A-Scholar of Albany; as a member of the Board of Directors of Albany Medical Center; and as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ordway Research Institute.

FRANK J. THOMPSON
Frank J. Thompson helmed the University at Albany's Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy for 17 years as interim provost and dean, and has been on the faculty of the college as a full professor since leaving the post in January of this year.

During his tenure, Thompson raised the levels of teaching, research, service, and development, in turn advancing the college's visibility and national reputation. Under his leadership, Rockefeller College has been ranked in the top 10 of more than 250 public affairs graduate programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

Over the last five years, the college has generated $15-20 million annually in external grants and contracts, pursuing a broad variety of domestic and international projects ranging from state workforce training to institution-building in new democracies.

As dean, Thompson instituted partnerships with state and national political leaders and groups to advance programs such as internships in the New York State Legislature and the Washington, D.C. political arena, a graduate certificate in Public Security developed with the New York State Office of Homeland Security, and a specialty in financial market regulation. He founded the Rockefeller College Advisory Board, comprising outstanding leaders of the public and private sectors.

Thompson has served as president of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA), and has been a member of governance committees of the American Political Science Association, the Association for Public Analysis and Management and the American Society for Public Administration. In recognition of his scholarship and his leadership, Thompson was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a select group of 500 scholars and practitioners from across the United States. He served as executive director of the National Commission on State and Local Public Service, which presented its reports on enhancing state and local government performance to President Bill Clinton at a special White House event. He published four books while dean, including Revitalizing State and Local Public Service (Jossey-Bass, 1993), and Medicaid and Devolution: A View from the States (Brookings Institution Press, 1998).

Founded in 1967, the University at Albany Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the University at Albany. It is responsible for promoting, administering and investing charitable gifts and grants to benefit the University. In addition, it owns and operates a growing real estate portfolio, which includes the University's east campus in East Greenbush, home to UAlbany's school of Public Health and the Gen*NY*Sis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics. The foundation is committed to playing a significant role in supporting programs and research that contribute to the economic development of the Capital Region and New York State.