An oral history conducted by Susan Resnik, Ph.D. with former San Diego State University Foundation General Manager Harry Albers on October 18, 2012. Beginning in 1978, Albers worked as general manager of the SDSU Foundation in addition to serving as vice president for University Relations and Development for three years. During his 21-year tenure as General Manager, Albers helped the Foundation's business grow from $13.5 million to over $143 million, including a huge increase in grants, contracts, and real property (e.g. Alvarado Medical Center). In his oral history, Albers recounts his childhood in New Jersey, attending the University of Pittsburgh (and becoming the first white student to room with an African-American student on campus) and Cornell University, as well as his career abroad as a physicist with the Smithsonian Institution in the Netherlands and Spain. Albers then discusses his time as general manager for the SDSU Research Foundation. This oral history was made possible by a grant from the John and Jane Adams Endowment for the Humanities and is part of the University Archives Multimedia Files Collection. Names mentioned during the interview include: Jean Ellen Cherry Albers, Rev. Walter P. Artioli, Edward H. Litchfield, George Crouch, David Halliday, Gary Prinz, Hans Bethe, Elizabeth Barringer, Jack Coffey, Thomas Day, Peter Drucker, John Hsia, Harry R. Albers, Jr., Steaphan H. Albers, Robert Albers, T. Ames Wheeler, Sidney R. Galler, David L. Wolper, Leo Goldberg, William T. Golden, and Robert R. Nardelli., San Diego State University, p. 61 of the transcript, "Wapo!" should be "Guapo!" Spanish for "handsome" or "beautiful."
