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from the President
Implementing UB 2020, transforming the university
OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS, UB 2020—a vision for realizing UB’s full potential as a premier public research university—has become much more than a university initiative. UB 2020 is embraced by our larger communities as a vital path toward economic revitalization, and is strongly supported by more than 9,000 UB Believers—including alumni around the globe.
UB 2020, I believe, is the most far-reaching institutional transformation conceived since UB joined the SUNY system in 1962. It encompasses an academic plan founded on a bold new interdisciplinary research paradigm; the first comprehensive campus physical plan in more than three decades; a strategic plan for achieving major growth in our student, faculty and staff populations; and an extensive realignment of operational services in support of our academic mission.
Click here to join UB Believers, a broad coalition of university advocates.
As one powerful potential path toward achieving UB 2020’s full impact, in January 2009 a united Western New York legislative delegation introduced the UB 2020 Flexibility and Economic Growth Act, seeking regulatory relief to provide flexibility and revenues to fuel UB 2020’s progress. This past June, the New York State Senate passed the bill. While the legislation has not yet been passed by the State Assembly at this writing, our advocacy efforts continue so that when the assembly reconvenes its 2009 session, we will be well positioned to move the bill through the legislature and on to the governor.
This legislation represents one promising avenue for UB 2020 that would expand our impact more broadly and more quickly. But whatever the ultimate outcome of this bill, I and our university remain fully committed to the broader UB 2020 vision it supports.
Indeed, we are already implementing that vision. This past spring and summer, we launched $362 million in construction projects on UB’s three campuses—North, South and downtown campus center—as part of the first phase of our comprehensive physical plan.
Furthermore, when fully implemented over the next 15 years, UB 2020 would create more than 10,000 new jobs with benefits and create the need for over 20,000 additional construction jobs. It would also transform our region through creating a downtown health campus with 13,000 people working, living and studying in the urban core, as well as contributing an additional regional economic impact of $2 billion per year. UB 2020 also is strengthening the university’s national prominence and global importance, bringing the university greater visibility far beyond the region.
Our success going forward will continue to depend on
the dedication of our large coalition of UB 2020 supporters,
including our strong alumni base. Thank you,
as always, for all you do to help advance your university
and the UB 2020 vision.
John B. Simpson, President
University at Buffalo
UB in the News
USA Today interviews UB accounting professor on Eastman Kodak's bankruptcy filing
An article in USA Today on Eastman Kodak?s bankruptcy filing, which has caused huge cuts to pay, benefits and insurance coverage for retirees and employees, quotes Martha Salzman, assistant professor of accounting and law in the UB School of Management.
NPR interviews UB professor on Pres. Obama?s plan to reduce gun violence
Steven Dubovsky, chair of the Department of Psychiatry in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, was interviewed live on NPR?s ?Here & Now,? which airs on 170 NPR affiliates nationwide, about President Barack Obama?s $500 million plan to reduce gun violence.
Buffalo News front-page story features UB study on use of stem cells in MS
A front-page story in the Buffalo News reports on a new study soon to be underway at UB and two other upstate medical centers to test a procedure that infuses stem cells into the brains of patients with multiple sclerosis to repair damage to their central nervous systems. The article quotes Bianca Guttman-Weinstock, co-principal investigator on the study. ?Expectations have to be kept under control,? she said. ?You?re not going to implant stem cells in people and suddenly see them running around.?