Dedicating Henry C. Foley Hall, Honoring Academic Innovation

The Midge Karr Fine Arts and Design Center on the Long Island campus is now officially known as Henry C. Foley Hall, renamed for President Emeritus Henry C. “Hank” Foley, Ph.D., at a dedication ceremony on May 13. Foley retired on June 30, 2025; he joined the university as president in 2017. 

The newly named Henry C. Foley Hall is the home of Startup Tech Central, a new center featuring maker spaces, mentorship programs, startup training, and more. This hub is a key feature of the university’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy, created during Foley’s tenure, which also brings together new courses and curricula, networking activities and events, and a $5 million venture fund, positioning New York Tech as a university offering comprehensive support for entrepreneurship. The effort to rename the building in Foley’s honor was driven by Board of Trustees Chair Peter J. Romano (B.Arch.’76), who, along with other trustees, was also a driving force to create the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy. 

“It’s my great honor to be standing in front of you to rename this building for Hank Foley. ‘Renaming’ is a bit of an understatement. It’s dramatically changing this building into something brand new and different; Startup Tech Central, which is housed here, is going to change our students’ lives,” said President Jerry Balentine, D.O. “Over the years that Hank Foley was at New York Tech, he dramatically changed the campus. There’s not a single aspect that has not been affected by him, that he has not elevated to a brand-new level. It’s a more student-centric school, it’s a stronger academic school, and it’s a stronger research school. Naming this building after him combines all of those energies that he brought to our campus.”

According to Foley, the focus on and resources invested in entrepreneurship are “the product of new thinking,” citing the many people who contributed across leadership and the administration, as well as the entrepreneurial students themselves. 

“This is important for our students with the urge to innovate and to create new enterprises with novel goods and services that will improve lives. This initiative is also important for our faculty, especially for those who also seek to be innovators and who will mentor and partner with students to make their new ideas come to life. It is important for the region, namely, for Long Island and the greater New York City area. With innovation and new business development comes prosperity, and prosperity lifts everybody. The initiative, finally, is important to the institution, as we position New York Tech for the future. We want New York Tech to be the school of choice for those students who are bold, independent, and innovative.”

Foley expressed his great honor for the building renaming, but stressed, “What’s much more important than my name being on the building is what’s actually going to happen in the building. So, let’s go forward.”

New York Tech Forms NAI Chapter

Additionally, New York Tech announced it has formed a chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), an organization dedicated to recognizing, encouraging, and enhancing academic invention. There are more than 250 NAI member institutions, which include U.S. and international universities, research institutions, and governmental and nonprofit research institutes, but only about 20 percent of the members have formed local NAI Chapter programs.

NAI Chapter programs are used to foster a culture of inclusive innovation within an institution and provide meaningful ways to connect with the invention and innovation community. NAI promotes innovation and the societal impact of academic inventions by recognizing and empowering U.S. patent holders, supporting education and mentorship, and partnering with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to broaden access to the innovation ecosystem.

Todd J. Cohen, M.D., professor, chief of cardiology, and director of medical device innovation at the College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM), is the inaugural president of New York Tech’s chapter. Cohen was elected a fellow of the NAI in 2024; he was nominated by Hank Foley, who himself was elected an NAI fellow in 2013. The NAI Fellowship is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors; the fellows program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on society.

Cohen noted how Foley created a positive and dynamic atmosphere, including making New York Tech a top regional university, navigating it through the pandemic, and opening new cutting-edge facilities, among other accolades.

Cohen also read remarks from the President’s Distinguished Chair in Physics at Texas Tech University, Robert Duncan, Ph.D., who is also an NAI board member. “The recognition that your chapter will provide to inventors at New York Tech will build on the already strong culture of innovation and inventorship within your institution and provide a strong sense of identity and support for the most innovative and inventive faculty across this university. You are joining a proud cohort of over 50 universities worldwide that have local NAI chapters and hence have made this most strategic investment in their national reputation and in their inventive future,” Duncan’s letter noted. “It is fitting that this ceremony corresponds with the honor of your building’s naming and dedication to past President Hank Foley, a brilliant scientist and inventor whom I have known for almost two decades.” Foley was also previously an NAI board member.

Other officers in New York Tech’s chapter are President-Elect Michael Nizich, Ph.D., director of the Entrepreneurship and Technology Innovation Center;Vice President Ziqian (Cecelia) Dong, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering; Secretary Randy Stout, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences; and Treasurer Claude Gagna, Ph.D., professor of biomedical and chemical sciences. Gagna was elected as a senior member of NAI’s Class of 2026, which recognizes inventors who are in the earlier part of their inventive career and have success in patents, licensing, and commercialization, and have produced technologies that have brought or aspire to bring real impact on the welfare of society.

New York Tech’s NAI chapter will expand to include inventor members, who must hold at least one patent, as well as honorary members who have facilitated and nurtured innovation and economic development.