Program between Albany Law School and Rensselaer set to launch in fall 2007

TROY, N.Y. — Rensselaer’s Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management and Technology and Albany Law School today announced plans to begin offering two new and innovative master’s degree programs in the fields of technology transfer and commercialization. The joint collaboration is the first between the two institutions located in the heart of New York’s Capital Region.

Albany Law School’s Master of Science in Legal Studies with a Concentration in Technology Transfer, and Rensselaer’s Master of Science in Commercialization of Technology will both begin in the fall of 2007. The collaboration is a prime example of how higher education programs can come together in a highly efficient manner, drawing on their respective strengths to meet rapidly emerging regional and national needs in the area of technology transfer, according to the participants.

“This collaboration was forged between our two institutions due to the rapid proliferation of new technologies, patents, and start-up enterprises in the Capital Region, and the critical need to help professionals in the field facilitate the quality of technology transfer in the region,” said David Gautschi, dean of Rensselaer’s Lally School. “This is a great opportunity for two of the Capital Region’s leading higher education institutions to come together to work as a team in a way that addresses the real-world needs of our students and faculty, local businesses, and Tech Valley as a whole.”

“By collaborating, our two schools can enhance the educational opportunities as well as the quality of technology transfer in the region,” said Thomas Guernsey, dean and president of Albany Law School. “It makes both perfect business and educational sense that our two world-class institutions focused on complementary but rapidly converging disciplines work together to offer the type of specialized, interdisciplinary, technology-based degrees that the market is clamoring for. We believe no other school in the country offers a degree like this. I need to thank State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno for providing the funding and foresight to develop our technology transfer program.”

Albany Law’s M.S. in Legal Studies — Concentration in Technology Transfer will include legal courses such as trademarks, contracts, patents, and licensing as well as business courses from Rensselaer’s Lally School such as valuation of technology, fundamentals of technology marketing, and tax aspects of technology transfer. For more information, visit: www.albanylaw.edu/techtransfer.

The Lally School will offer an M.S. in Commercialization of Technology. Students will come mainly from Rensselaer’s undergraduate programs in management, biomedical engineering, materials science, architecture, computer science, product design and innovation, and cognitive psychology. The students will receive training in management as well as selected technologies from the cited disciplines. Upon completion of at least 30 graduate credits, students will have the option of taking their new technology to market as start-up entrepreneurs, pursuing Albany Law’s M.S. degree in Legal Studies — Concentration in Technology Transfer, or working for 18 months in a technology-related industry and then returning to Rensselaer for another year to earn an MBA. For more information, go to: http://lallyschool.rpi.edu/programs/index.cfm?p=1

About Albany Law School
Albany Law School is a small, independent private school in the heart of New York state’s capital since 1851. As the oldest law school in New York and the oldest independent law school in the nation, the institution offers students an innovative, rigorous curriculum taught by a committed faculty. Several nationally recognized programs — including the Government Law Center and the Albany Law Clinic and Justice Center -- provide opportunities for students to apply classroom learning. Students have access to New York’s highest court, federal courts, and the state legislature, as well as a thriving tech-based economy, leading to an employment rate for graduates well above the national average for law schools for the past 25 years. For more information on Albany Law School visit www.albanylaw.edu.

Albany Law School Media Contact:
David Singer
(518) 445-3211
dsing@albanylaw.edu

About Rensselaer’s Lally School
Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management and Technology was founded in 1963 as an integral part of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the nation’s oldest degree-granting technological university. Building on Rensselaer’s heritage of more than 182 years of leadership in science and engineering, the Lally School is dedicated to advancing business through innovation. The Lally School’s curriculum is designed to produce leaders who combine creative passion with the ability to integrate technology across business functions. The faculty emphasizes the value of hands-on experience available through campus resources such as the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and the nation’s first on-campus business incubator. Rensselaer’s Lally School offers graduate and undergraduate degree programs in management, doctoral programs in management and technology, an Executive MBA program, and a joint Sino-U.S. MBA for companies operating in China. For more information on the Lally School, go to www.lallyschool.rpi.edu.

Contact: Jessica Otitigbe
Phone: (518) 276-6050
E-mail: otitij@rpi.edu