Memorandums

President Simpson shares his vision of UB taking its place among the world’s top public research universities July 6, 2004

Dear Colleagues:

Six months have now passed since I was given the remarkable honor and privilege of being named the university's 14th President. I have now had an opportunity to meet with many of you, our faculty, staff and students, as well as numerous external constituents. I have learned a great deal about UB in the last 180 days, and confirmed many of my early impressions about it. This is a very strong institution, and I am proud to be a part of such a rich culture and heritage. You have worked hard to achieve incredible advances in numerous fields of study, and you have successfully positioned UB to become one of the world's finest institutions of higher education. Despite these wonderful successes, however, I believe there is more to be done.

Many of you have told me personally that you share my vision of moving UB beyond the very fine institution it is today to a new plateau upon which we share center stage alongside the world's great public research universities. You have shared with me your commitment to new achievement, and that our university's strength has always been framed by the deeper sense of obligation we have to our scholarship, to our students and to our community. Fortifying that strength is one of the challenges before us. Many of the world's other fine universities are gaining new strength every year. They are aggressively building programs that will yield new and expanded sources of funding, thereby intensifying the competition for increasingly scarce resources. In this pursuit, we cannot afford to fall behind, or we run the risk of ultimately jeopardizing our research objectives and the unfound scientific discoveries and expressions of creativity that we are so capable of producing.

The path for realizing our vision must start with a clear plan defining how this vision will be achieved. To that end, in early March we launched a university-wide assessment process with the goal of designing and putting in place both an academic plan and an overarching campus master strategy for UB. I am pleased to report that we are making substantial progress in this ongoing process. As I write, the Deans have completed their individual school analyses and have begun discussions to identify broader scale "strategic strengths" that will define our institution for the foreseeable future. Similarly, the Vice Presidents and Vice Provosts have completed analyses of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing our institution. Lastly, we have launched specific task forces, including the University, Government and Industry Task Force and the Community Engagement Task Force, to examine specific institutional functions and to develop targeted recommendations for improving current services or operations. I have been impressed by the quality of the ideas being generated, and inspired by the constructive discussions taking place around the notion of how best to build UB's future as an academic institution of excellence.

Our next phase of planning will involve the integration of the individual analyses in order to define the university's strengths from a comprehensive perspective and ensure that our schools and college are in productive alignment with those strengths. On July 14, I will lead an intensive planning retreat that will begin the work of this integration. I will also put in place two institutional planning teams to focus on, respectively, comprehensive academic planning and academic support planning. Comprised of faculty, deans and administrative staff, these teams will work to identify academic priorities for our university, as well as operational opportunities and best practices in support of those priorities: the first step in the creation of both our institutional academic plan and our master strategic plan for the campus.

As we move into our next phase of planning, I have come to the conclusion that we need to put into place a senior level organizational structure that will support the planning process, and that will better align our core functions with our academic mission in order to best position our institution for long-term success and growth. In support of this objective, I would like to announce the following changes in the organizational structure of the administrative leadership of the university, effective immediately.

Reporting directly to the President will be two Executive Vice Presidents: (1) the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs; and (2) the Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations. As you know, as the result of a very effective national search that drew outstanding candidates to UB, Dr. Satish K. Tripathi has joined us as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs as of July 1. Provost and EVP Tripathi has already begun to work with senior administrators at UB to assess and put in place an organization within the Office of the Provost that will best support his leadership of university academic affairs. I expect that Provost Tripathi will finalize and communicate that structure to the university community soon. The Vice Presidents for Research and for Health Affairs will report to Provost Tripathi, in his capacity as EVP for Academic Affairs.

The second position, that of an Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations, is new to UB but is critically important in rounding out my senior administration. The full scope of responsibilities for this position will be further defined as campus planning and organizational changes unfold. While it is my intention to commence a national search to fill this vital and important post, it is important that the institutional planning and leadership role of this position be fulfilled immediately. I have asked my Chief of Staff, Dr. James (Beau) Willis to fill this role in an interim capacity. Reporting directly to Dr. Willis, in addition to the Office of the President, will be the Vice President for University Services, the Vice President for Public Service and Urban Affairs, the Vice President and Chief Information Officer, the Office of Government Affairs, and a new position, the Vice President for External Affairs. The Office of Equity, Diversity, and Affirmative Action Administration, the Vice President for Student Affairs, and the Vice President for University Advancement will continue to report to me directly. However, we will begin to restructure the Advancement function to realign the areas of Marketing, Creative Services and News Services under the new position of Vice President for External Affairs. Effective July 15, therefore, these three areas, Marketing, Creative Services and News Services, will also report to Dr. Willis until such time as we have successfully completed a national search for this new vice presidential position.

We are commencing immediately national searches to fill the posts of Vice President for Research, Vice President for Health Affairs, and Vice President for External Affairs. Dr. Robert J. Genco, who has most recently served UB so admirably as Interim Provost, has agreed to serve as Interim Vice President for Research, as of July 15, 2004, and Dr. Margaret L. Paroski, in addition to her duties as Interim Dean of Medicine, will continue as Interim Vice President for Health Affairs.

Finally, it is with a deep sense of gratitude for his outstanding commitment to our university that I announce that Mr. Robert J. Wagner will step down from his post as Senior Counselor to the President as of July 15, 2004. Despite his original intentions to retire at the close of the presidential search process, Bob was gracious enough to stay on at my request to assist with several vital university issues during my initial months here. Bob has my abiding thanks for his assistance and counsel, and for his 36 years of service to the University at Buffalo. Bob will continue at UB as a lecturer in the Graduate School of Education.

Colleagues, much has been achieved in the last six months, and together we yet have much more to accomplish. I am confident that UB's new leadership structures will significantly further our agenda and will enable us to accelerate our assessment process. Working together, we will ensure that UB becomes a leading academic institution, and, therefore, a truly great university. I ask you to join with me in this vision, as well as in the commitment to excellence that we must make in order to bring this vision to fruition. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas, as always, and to the successful achievement of our goals.

Sincerely, signature
John B. Simpson
President