Memorandums

President Simpson marks his first anniversary at UB January 21, 2005

Dear Colleagues:

Best wishes for the new year, and for those of you returning after the semester break, welcome back to campus. January 1, 2005 marked the anniversary of my first year as President of the University at Buffalo. This has been an exciting and eventful year at UB, one marked by progress, change, and an increasing sense across our university campuses of new momentum for the future. In the last twelve months, we have accomplished even more than we set out to do:

  • We welcomed a new Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs;
  • We established a context that will guide all future university endeavors: academic excellence;
  • We significantly reorganized the leadership structure of the university to be more responsive to the needs of UB as a whole;
  • We aggressively set in place critical senior leadership searches;
  • We launched the most comprehensive and inclusive planning process in UB's history—UB2020—designed to position our institution among the nation's very best research universities;
  • We built a foundational strategy that will guide the growth of the New York Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences;
  • We created a plan for improving our relationships with local, state and federal legislators and with private industry;
  • We completed the first phase of a plan to strengthen ties to our communities; and
  • We publicly celebrated our university's strength and promise with a month-long inauguration program in October 2004 focusing on UB's academic excellence.

These accomplishments belong to all of us at UB; they are significant not only for the many ways in which they enrich our university, but because they have been effected through the combined efforts of our entire community. Indeed, as I reflect upon the many events of the last 365 days, what stands out as a central and unifying theme is the tremendous dedication and desire shown by both the academic and the academic support areas of our institution to build a better, stronger future for this university.

“This has been an exciting and eventful year at UB, one marked by progress, change, and an increasing sense across our university campuses of new momentum for the future.” John B. Simpson President

While the achievements I have recounted above are impressive each in their own right, what seems to me truly most significant about our first year together is that we have not only decided to comprehensively challenge ourselves to be the very best UB we can be, but have acted assertively and in concert toward this end. In doing so, we have newly proclaimed the strength of our commitment to our students, to scholarship and new research, and to excellence in public higher education.

As I have argued in my inaugural address, and many times before and since, in this time of decreased public funding and increased societal responsibility for the public research university, only those universities which take a proactive, progressive, and planful stance toward accepting the responsibility for determining their own futures will succeed in the very competitive 21st century. We have accepted that reality, and its accompanying challenges, here at UB.

Within the next week, the UB 2020 Executive Committee will be transmitting to the campus community a report about the planning efforts. The report will provide significant details about both the context and the content underlying strategic planning at UB, and will summarize the outstanding work that has been accomplished in this initial phase by the tremendously dedicated and insightful members of the faculty, staff and student body who have contributed to the effort through their participation via various committees, task forces, workshops, and other venues. I hope you will look for this report, and give it your most serious consideration, because it will signify an important point of demarcation for our planning effort and for our campus. Together we have proven that we have the desire and capacity to think strategically about our future. The task before us now is to act strategically.

I want to be very clear about our next steps: as it has been from its inception, this process will continue to be a broad effort that invites commentary and insight, especially into the further development and refinement of the academic plan. I feel very strongly that the involvement, dedication, and intellectual investment of the entire academic community is required if UB 2020 is to meet its goal of helping us to successfully position UB among the nation's top research universities. We must proceed together and with purpose as we advance the planning activities in ways that allow the campus to consider and make informed decisions that will provide authentic and meaningful opportunities for our future.

As we move forward, we need to start new conversations and invite new voices into the conversation as we consider opportunities to advance our tripartite mission of research, teaching and service. Among other things, we have the opportunity to shape discussions around the role—and indeed the responsibility—of the public university in K-16 education. We also have the opportunity to lend our voice to issues of diversity and globalization as we continue to define UB's role in the local and global community. I very much look forward to continued vibrant discussion, and to full participation from our academic community, as we move ahead with UB 2020, and with all our university initiatives, activities, and academic endeavors.

One year ago, I wrote to the university community pledging to be aggressive as your University President in setting an agenda of excellence. I would like to renew and to further clarify that promise for 2005: our overarching principle at UB will be academic excellence. This principle must be at the very heart of all that we do as a university community. It will guide us as we lead the future of research, of education, of public service; it will help us to bring our expertise and unparalleled commitment to academic excellence to bear upon K-12 education, to educational access, and to other societal needs and critical issues; it will underscore our efforts to bring the vital importance of public higher education to the forefront of our local, state and national priorities; it will enable our engagement in our local communities and leverage our institutional ability to inspire and assist with technology transfer and other economic development activities here in Western New York and throughout the state; and it will convey this university's achievements and excellence to the academic world.

As President, I will continue to communicate my thoughts and vision with you directly in 2005, and as I meet with the academic departments and other units across the university this year, I will continue to welcome and to expect your contributions on behalf of our university. Two thousand and four proved a year of great change and decisive action for the University at Buffalo. Let us aspire to even greater achievement in 2005. I look forward to working with you this semester, and indeed throughout the coming years, to continue building a great future for our university.

Sincerely, signature
John B. Simpson
President