SUNY Chairman Emeritus H. Carl McCall has dedicated the entirety of his life to empowering and uplifting New Yorkers. A fierce advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, McCall spent every day as Chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees championing the issues most important to students and faculty throughout The State University of New York. McCall is responsible for developing some of our most groundbreaking and impactful policies to date, including Ban the Box and Enough is Enough.
In February 2020, it was announced that the SUNY System Administration Building located in downtown Albany would be renamed the H. Carl McCall SUNY Building because of the Chairman's long standing contributions to SUNY and New York State.
In honor of this great recognition, SUNY System Administration announced an art contest to both commemorate the service of H. Carl McCall and highlight the wide range of talented SUNY students. A creative team at SUNY System Administration reviewed submissions, and those that were selected as finalists are proudly featured here. The winner of the contest, Mario Ruiz, has his art permanently displayed in the H. Carl McCall SUNY Building in Albany.
"H. Carl McCall: A New York Life", is a montage depicting the public service of the esteemed, NYS Senator, US Ambassador, Comptroller, and SUNY Board Chairman Emeritus. It highlights his distinguished 50 years plus career as a New York State and City public servant.
The project celebrates the spirit of collaboration. This project has been designed and coordinated by students Adeye Jean Baptist and Elizabeth Radigan under the advisement of Associate Dean Dan Napolitano and invited SUNY schools to paint at least one of the 196 tiles. It was not be one artist working alone but many hands required for one vision.
"Storied Legacy" is a painting meant to reflect how H. Carl McCall is intertwined with the SUNY system and New York state history. This is done by depicting him and scenes from New York and the SUNY system combined in a storybook inspired composition. Included are various symbols calling to McCall's values and work in public service as well as symbols of New York State.
This piece is symbolic of the accomplishments of H. Carl McCall’s work as it represents how he was able to make education accessible to all during his service. The hands, which represent different ethnicities and backgrounds, are pictured breaking a chain (which represents hardships such as poverty and disability) and allowing New York State to flourish, which is represented by the blooming of Roses (NYS flower) painted at the location of all 64 SUNY campuses.