PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 7, 2026--
Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) today announced a landmark 15-year partnership with the University at Albany (UAlbany), a public research university in Albany, NY, to deliver a bold new vision for campus dining. Launching this January 2026, this collaboration will redefine the student dining experience through innovation, inclusivity, and community engagement.
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“At UAlbany, we believe a world-class education should be matched by a world-class environment. Our partnership with Aramark Collegiate Hospitality ensures that our services will set a new benchmark for collegiate excellence," said Michael Ramella, Executive Director of University Auxiliary Services (UAS). "For UAS, this initiative is more than a service upgrade; it is a dedicated investment in student well-being, community connection, and the holistic success of our diverse student body.”
Under the banner of Great Dane Hospitality, Aramark is introducing a dynamic hospitality ecosystem designed to elevate UAlbany as a premier dining program featuring globally inspired menus, cutting-edge technology, and vibrant social spaces to foster connection and belonging for students, faculty, and staff.
Anticipated highlights of the partnership include:
“This partnership is about more than food—it’s about creating an experience that supports student success and strengthens campus life,” said Barbara Flanagan, President and CEO of Aramark Collegiate Hospitality. “Together with UAlbany, we will deliver a world-class dining program that reflects the University’s culture and values while driving measurable growth and engagement.”
The collaboration underscores Aramark’s commitment to growth and innovation in higher education dining. The initiative leverages data-driven strategies and a simplified meal plan structure to simultaneously improve food accessibility for the broader campus population and drive substantial increases in retail and catering revenue.
Aramark today announced a landmark 15-year partnership with the University at Albany (UAlbany), a public research university in Albany, NY, to deliver a bold new vision for campus dining. Launching this January 2026, this collaboration will redefine the student dining experience through innovation, inclusivity, and community engagement.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he will allow service members to carry personal weapons onto military installations, citing the Second Amendment and recent shootings at bases across the country.
In a video posted to X, Hegseth said he is signing a memo that will direct base commanders to allow requests for troops to carry privately owned firearms “with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.”
He said any denial of a service member's request must be explained in detail and in writing.
“Effectively, our bases across the country were gun-free zones,” Hegseth said. "Unless you're training or unless you are a military policeman, you couldn't carry, you couldn't bring your own firearm for your own personal protection onto post."
Questions about why service members lacked access to weapons have often emerged following shootings on the nation's military bases. Such shootings have ranged from isolated events between service members to mass casualty events, such as the shootings by an Army psychiatrist at Texas’ Ford Hood in 2009 that left 13 people dead.
Hegseth cited some of the events in his video, including a shooting that injured five soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia last year. Officials said the shooter, an Army sergeant who worked at the base, used his personal handgun before he was tackled by fellow soldiers and arrested.
“In these instances, minutes are a lifetime,” Hegseth said. “And our service members have the courage and training to make those precious, short minutes count.”
Defense Department policy has prohibited military personnel from carrying personal weapons on base without permission from a senior commander, with strict protocol for how the firearms must be stored.
Typically, military personnel must officially check their guns out of secure storage to go to on-base hunting areas or shooting ranges, then check all firearms back in promptly after their sanctioned use. Military police are often the only armed personnel on base, outside of shooting ranges, hunting areas or in training, where soldiers can wield their service weapons without ammunition.
Tanya Schardt, senior counsel at the Brady gun violence prevention organization, said in a statement that Defense Department leaders and the military’s top brass have opposed relaxing the current policy, which was originally enacted under President George H.W. Bush.
“Our military installations are among the most guarded, protected properties in the world, and they’ve never been ‘gun-free zones,’” Schardt said. “If there is a problem with violent crime on these installations, then the Secretary of Defense has an obligation to alert the American people and describe how he’s working to prevent that crime."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to members of the media during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
