For UAlbany, With Love

 Patrick Dodson

Daniel Wulff, a professor of Biological Sciences who retired in 2016 after a 36-year career at UAlbany, and his wife of 62 years, Bonnie Taylor, had no hesitancy about their $5 million gift to support three University at Albany priorities. “I’m doing it because I’m able to, and I love this place,” said Wulff.

“I’ve always had an urge to give,” said Taylor, “and you just have to know when it’s the right time. This is the time.”

The gift will be directed to areas to which Wulff has devoted enormous time, energ,y and passion: the biological-sciences department; the University’s Science Research in High School program, which he founded in 1985; and a scholarship program for undergraduate students having extreme financial need.

The couple’s gift becomes part of the University’s comprehensive fundraising campaign, This Is Our Time: The Campaign for UAlbany, which has now raised  $133 million – 88 percent of its $150-million goal.

After several years as a faculty researcher at California Institute of Technology and 15 more at the University of California, Irvine – where he was a founding faculty member in 1965 and had risen to the post of assistant dean – Wulff came to UAlbany in 1980 as dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics. He accepted the post at the strong urging of his wife. “Bonnie was always encouraging me to look for something better,” he said. “She thought it was a step to my becoming a college president.”

That didn’t work out, but the deanship of a college comprising “seven very independent departments” allowed him to “really get into research again. I got several of my grants renewed.” Leaving the deanship in 1993, he found delight in teaching, particularly in taking on challenges that included an intro to biology course that attracted 1,500 students per year and two others well outside the box: an immunology course beginning in 1999 and, a few years later, one on nutrition.

Wulff grew to love these departmental experiences.

Accordingly, the couple’s endowment gift will provide the department valuable unrestricted funds, supporting research programs, visiting speakers, internships, and other initiatives that enrich the student experience.

Wulff’s passion also ran to the Research in the High Schools program, which he directed until his retirement. During those years, the program exposed thousands of high school students to the field of scientific research, with many going on to gain national recognition as scientists. The endowment will help monitor programs in the individual high schools that participate, ensuring the highest standards and the greatest participation.

And the portion of the gift that will endow The Professor Daniel Wulff and Bonnie Taylor Scholarship for undergraduates with significant financial need satisfies other strongly held priorities. “Bonnie and I believe deeply in UAlbany’s mission and excellence,” Wulff said. “It is thrilling to see students, especially those from underserved populations, achieve their dreams in an institution with the highest academic standards.”

He added: “I believe in upward mobility. I think it is important for us as a university, and it is important for us as a country.”       

“Dr. Wulff’s decades of service as an outstanding teacher and scholar have had a profound impact on his students and colleagues and on the University itself,” said UAlbany President Havidán Rodríguez. “This remarkable gift from Dan and Bonnie magnifies and makes permanent that impact, and we could not be more grateful.”

Vice President for Advancement Fardin Sanai also commented on the gift’s significance. “Dan and Bonnie’s gift is noteworthy not only because of its size and purpose, but also because of who its donors are,” Sanai said. “Such generous support from a revered faculty member and his spouse is a deeply meaningful statement about their belief in the fundamental importance of a UAlbany education.”