SUNY Albany

The De Center

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The De Center ➪

SUNY ALBANY | the DE CENTER

What if large university doing some of the most cutting edge research in the world on everything from AI, to climate science, to poetry and photography had a place that could connect all of these fields?

what if…

that place could offer students unique learning opportunities, academics otherwise inaccessible perspectives, and the university itself greater standing in the academic world?

what if…

that place could offer students unique learning opportunities, academics otherwise inaccessible perspectives, and the university itself greater standing in the academic world?

Background

The DeCenter (formerly CHATS (The Center for Humanities Arts and Technosciences) was formed in 2008, as humanities and arts disciplines struggled to prove their relevance amid a professional and academic landscape with a heavy emphasis on STEM fields. The DeCenter’s original mandate was to elevate the role of the humanities at SUNY Albany by offering a connecting point between STEM and humanities disciplines.

Challenge

Although they have maintained a presence at the university for nearly twenty years, they have so far received limited university support, limiting their capacity to pursue ambitions. This left the DeCenter’s presence diluted, unfocused, dramatically under documented, and with an all but ignored identity. Which ultimately led to many years of good work that has nonetheless struggled to keep pace with their greater mission.

Opportunity

A powerful and focused brand strategy for this academic center at SUNY Albany repositions them for a cultural and academic landscape significantly different from the center’s founding. And with greater support, the DeCenter has the potential to be a truly unique force at U. Albany, helping to contribute to greater, more responsible, better understood human flourishing.

The DeCenter has the opportunity to (boost) secure financial support from university leadership, as well as to build a broad support network of allies and collaborators across departments. In order to do this, the rebranding strategy focuses on revealing the possibility of shared ambitions, continuous dialogue, and as-yet unasked questions among university disciplines.

Ultimately, this is the beginning of a long conversation for this academic center on its way to becoming a true center of gravity for new ways of thinking and working across scholarship, art, technologies, and sciences. And this moment is their chance to make that conversation as exciting as it deserves to be.