Welcome to Spring 2022

Dear UAlbany Community,

Welcome to Spring 2022 at the University at Albany! I hope that you had a healthy and enjoyable intersession, and that the spring semester is off to a great start.

I deeply appreciate your ongoing flexibility and patience as we continue to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on our campus. I know it has been almost two years of trying to navigate this pandemic, but it is critically important not to lose sight of how far we have come and all our accomplishments during this time. At this time last year, very few of us had access to vaccines. Today, we have nearly universal vaccination among our students, and 92% of our employees are vaccinated.

There are very good reasons to believe that the COVID-19 situation will improve significantly in the coming weeks and months. However, we need to stay the course: wear our masks, get our booster shots, and stay vigilant to protect the most vulnerable among us.

All this said, our faculty and staff continue to work very hard to ensure that our students have meaningful and engaging on-campus experiences this semester. I want to thank everyone who is making this possible—from our teaching faculty, to Residential Life, to our dining and facilities staff, and so many others.

Meanwhile, we have extraordinary opportunities before us as a community, including the proposal to return the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to UAlbany. Also, we just welcomed Dr. Kesh Kesavadas, our new Vice President for Research and Economic Development, to campus. We can already feel the dynamism and enthusiasm that will result in impactful and sustainable change to UAlbany’s research infrastructure.

There are other exciting initiatives in the works that will build on our past success and increase UAlbany’s positive impact on our students, on our communities, and on the planet. And we will continue with a strong focus on building and strengthening enrollment, research, and philanthropy at our institution.

Together with the members of my Executive Council, I look forward to working closely with you as we continue to strengthen our great University and create a better future for our internal and our external communities.

Go Great Danes!

Sincerely,

Havidán Rodríguez
President