Edward Durell Stone and the Building of the Uptown Campus, 1961-1971

Governor Nelson Rockefeller and the Campus

Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller with Albany Mayor Erastus Corning III (center) in the New York State Capitol Rotunda at the unveiling of the architect's model of the Uptown Campus in June 1962. Celeste Mitchell (left), public relations representative for the architect, Edward Durell Stone, provides information to Arthur Kapner, president of the Greater Albany Chamber of Commerce. In undertaking the building project, Corning lost a country club and Rockefeller gained a major university complex.

Governor Nelson Rockefeller picked Edward Durell Stone to design a radically different campus that concentrated buildings in the center of the campus, leaving cars and parkland around the perimeter. Governor Nelson Rockefeller took a keen interest in the campus, addressing the first Commencement in 1966 (at left), loaning his art collection for the first University Art Gallery exhibit and attending it's opening, and campaigning for President on the campus in 1968.