Announcements and Letters

In honor of the Indigenous peoples who were the first inhabitants of North America, the University at Buffalo will observe Indigenous Peoples Day on the second Monday in October.

It is with great pleasure that I offer you my very best wishes at the start of UB’s fall 2021 semester! This is truly a happy day for UB, as we celebrate the return of our university community to campus.

As we celebrate our university’s 175th anniversary, I am delighted to announce that we will be inviting our 2020 graduates back to campus for an in-person commencement ceremony Oct. 1, during Homecoming Weekend.

Looking to the fall 2021 semester, we will soon begin phasing in the return of our employees. The intention is to have employees back in person by August 1 so we can prepare for the start of the new academic year.

An innovative leader in higher education, Brian F. Hamluk is deeply committed to student success, and he keenly appreciates that keeping our students at the heart of everything we do is fundamental to UB’s mission of excellence.

It is with mixed emotions that I announce that Michael E Cain, MD, whose leadership has dramatically transformed medical education, research and clinical care in WNY, is stepping down as vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, effective Aug. 31.

This landmark trial has been viewed as a referendum on police accountability and brutality against Black and Brown Americans—and, as such, it has been closely followed by millions of people demanding the abiding structural change that is long overdue in our country.

Against the backdrop of a fervent racial justice reckoning, demonstrations over police brutality against Black and Brown Americans, a pandemic that has magnified social injustice, and oppression that has persisted from our country’s founding, I understand that some of you may be feeling as traumatized in the retelling of this terrible episode as when you first learned of it.

As a global community of scholars grounded in ideals of social justice, we condemn, in the strongest of terms, anti-Asian harassment, hatred and violence—just as we condemn the ignorance, prejudice and bigotry at their root.

I am pleased to announce that we will be celebrating UB’s 175 commencement in person, with all ceremonies to be held outdoors. As always, we will follow UB’s health and safety measures to ensure a safe in-person celebration of UB’s Class of 2021.

The start of our spring 2021 semester marks a new beginning for each of us—an opportunity to reaffirm our mission of excellence, to envision new solutions and to serve as agents of positive change.

We are pleased to share that the University at Buffalo plans to resume our regular in-person instruction beginning with the fall 2021 semester.

As the fractures of the past several years extend into 2021, Dr. King’s exhortations of 53 years ago remind us of our imperative today—and every day: to commemorate his legacy by contributing to the ideals of justice and equality.

The lawlessness and chaos that erupted at the U.S. Capitol today are truly horrifying. As we watch the violent disruptions to the certification of the presidential election, we ardently hope for a swift and peaceful return to order in our nation’s capital.