2/14/2013 9:06:51 AM

Times Union: Tech Valley High moving up

View Original Article

Times Union

ALBANY — A year and a half from now, the student body at the University at Albany College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering will be a lot younger.

Tech Valley High School, begun several years ago as a model for next-generation math and science education in the public school system, will move to the NanoCollege in the fall of 2014 from its current location in East Greenbush at UAlbany's East Campus.

Officials with the two BOCES organizations that founded Tech Valley High said Wednesday that the move to the NanoCollege fulfills the high school's ultimate goal for its students — being located on a university campus and partnering with the high-tech business community on research and training.

"It brings our decades-old dream to fruition well beyond our wildest expectations," said James Baldwin, district superintendent of Questar III BOCES, which operates Tech Valley High along with Capital Region BOCES. "The future of Tech Valley High School is secured."

After humble beginnings at Rensselaer Technology Park in 2007, Tech Valley High found its current home at the East Campus — home to the university's School of Public Health as well as its Cancer Center. The location, part of the former Sterling Winthrop research and development labs, also put Tech Valley High on a college campus and allowed it to be close to dozens of biotech companies on the East Campus.

The East Campus lease — which was with the University at Albany Foundation, which owns the East Campus land — ends Aug. 31, 2014. The NanoCollege has negotiated a 20-year lease with Tech Valley High and the two BOCES organizations, for 22,000 square feet of space in a yet-to-be constructed building at Albany NanoTech.

Read More