Reporter Volume 25, No.26 April 28, 1994

By ANN WHITCHER
Reporter Editor

The university is preparing a master plan for the South Campus that
will entail a massive review and study of the complex measures and
structures needed for a campus devoted mostly to health sciences
study, care and research. 
	Ronald Nayler, associate vice president for facilities
planning, is co-chair of the master plan process with Bruce Holm,
associate professor and dean for research and graduate studies in the
UB medical school. "We're undertaking this process," Nayler says,
"because we're actually implementing the North Campus master plan,
ensuring that we bring all the undergraduate activities to the North
Campus. 
	"As we moved fine arts, we will be moving Chemistry this
summer and we're in the programming process for Natural Sciences,
Phase II, which would move Math to the North Campus," Nayler
continued. "The general plan has always been that the South Campus
should be the health sciences campus. But we haven't had a master plan
update for a decade, maybe two. This is an appropriate time to do it,
so that we can actually replan the campus for revitalization,
synthesis of the operating needs for the South Campus, and provide the
proper environment for accomplishing our mission, both through
renovation of the existing facilities and expansion of space for our
programs that are deficient in space. 
	"We also want to create a spatial cohesiveness for the South
Campus and to provide the campus community with a coherent
understanding of what future development of the South Campus is likely
to be."
	For his part, Bruce Holm notes that "The master plan process,
in addition to the structural changes and mapping activities that go
on, is also a framework by which we are able to articulate and put
into effect the academic mission for all the programs that currently
exist on the South Campus, including, in particular, the health
sciences schools. It also provides us with the opportunity to
determine the goals of each of the individual schools and come up with
both a theoretical and a functional plan to put those goals into
effect during the decade." 
	The 21-member steering committee reports to an advisory
committee comprised of President Greiner and his executive staff. "The
job we have as a steering committee is to actually run the process so
that we can report back to the advisory committee," Nayler says. The
steering committee, he adds, "has a very broad and varied
representation from all segments of activities at UB and at the South
Campus." 
	Bolstering the effort will be seven subcommittees devoted to:
relocation of Nursing/HRP; academic space needs and
renovation/equipment upgrade; community health education clinical
facility; campus-wide activities and services; campus circulation,
access, safety and aesthetics; housing/neighborhood, and campus
infrastructure/historic buildings.
	Working with the UB team are Ken Gifford, director, master
planning coordinating for the SUNY Construction Fund, and two staff
members: Carolyn Merrow and Carol Sweet.
	"It's a very useful process," says Nayler, "the results of
which we expect will be a master plan document. However, we don't look
at the document as the most important part of what we're undertaking.
It's really the process. We want to get people involved, (have them)
get an understanding of what we're trying to do, solicit opinions and
try to reach a consensus of what the priority plans are for the
direction of the South Campus. 
	"As part of that result, we hope to get a resolution of a
number of programmatic and space utilization issues, and an
understanding of funding commitments from Albany. We see the entire
process as critical to the physical development of the South Campus in
the next ten years."
	Plans call for publication of final master plan document in
February 1996.