UAlbany-CNSE Reunification

Dear Colleagues,

I am very excited to share with you that yesterday the SUNY Board of Trustees voted to set in motion the process that will officially reunify the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) with the University at Albany. CNSE was born at UAlbany two decades ago, and there could not be a more exciting time in our University’s history to welcome our colleagues back to the UAlbany family.

As you know, we have strongly advocated for this moment – both in public and private – since my arrival at UAlbany. The resolution approved Tuesday by the Board of Trustees empowers UAlbany to work closely with our colleagues and partners at CNSE and SUNY Poly to develop a master plan and timeline for the reintegration of CNSE into UAlbany by December 2023. First and foremost, our goal will be to develop a plan that is good for students, faculty, and staff at all three institutions.

Separately, the same resolution charges our colleagues at SUNY Poly with developing a strategic plan for the future of Poly’s Utica-area campus, which will remain separate from UAlbany. We also remain strongly committed to partner and work with SUNY Poly to advance the academic and research enterprise in our regions, the State of New York, and beyond.

The UAlbany-CNSE reunification process will no doubt be complex, but my leadership team and I have been preparing for this moment and are ready, with your support, to move forward with the critical next steps. Governor Hochul is committed to cementing SUNY’s reputation as the nation’s premier public university system, and reunifying CNSE and UAlbany will leverage each institution’s considerable strengths to build a truly formidable research and teaching powerhouse at one of the most diverse public research institutions in the country.

While much work remains to be done, I hope you will take these exciting news in the same spirit in which I have – as an enormous vote of confidence in the work that we have been doing together these past five years.

I am grateful for the support of Governor Hochul, SUNY and the Board of Trustees, and our colleagues at CNSE. We also appreciate the committed advocacy of our representatives at the State Capitol – Senator Neil Breslin and Assembly Members Patricia Fahy and John T. McDonald III – as well as all those throughout the region who have also worked tirelessly to make this day possible.

I look forward to sharing more details with you as I am able in the coming weeks and months.

Wishing you the very best for a healthy, peaceful, and enjoyable Holiday Season.
 

Sincerely,

Havidán Rodríguez
President