January 19, 1995: Vol26n13: Budget request presented

By CHRISTINE VIDAL
Reporter Editor
The University at Buffalo is seeking "a very modest" increase of
$762,700 to bring its total budget to $221,082,000 for the 1995-96
fiscal year.
	Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner presented UB's final
budget request to the UB Council at a meeting held Dec. 8.
	UB is holding the line, Wagner noted, in part because there
are very few salary adjustments in the 1995-96 budget. "No new
contracts were signed, so salary projections are current amounts moved
forward," he said. "The budget request is straightforward and modest
because of the salary issue."
	President William R. Greiner noted that budget calculations
are more "routinized" now than they have been in the past, and based
on technical calculations. He added that budgets in post-election
years tend to be flat, because "a pre-election year tends to be up and
loaded, and then the next year you deal with how do you pay for it."
Gov. George Pataki has until Feb. 1 to release the 1995-96 New York
State budget.
	In other business, William J. Evitts, executive director of
Alumni Relations, presented an outline of UB's alumni program.
	According to Evitts, UB has 112,420 addressable alumni out of
a total of 147,728 living alumni. And while alumni are "terribly,
terribly proud" of UB, "we have our work cut out for us in terms of
building our emotional bridges and communication bridges" with alumni,
he said.
	Alumni Relations is working to strengthen its ties with alumni
through new programs and increased communication efforts that include
tracking down UB graduates on the Internet, Evitts noted.
	In his report to the Council, Greiner praised Vice President
for Public Service and Urban Affairs Muriel Moore for her work in
compiling UB's Public Service Compendium.
	He also discussed with the Council the university's mission
statement, which "has been kicking around the university for a while."
Greiner noted that the mission statement is "crafted to pick up major
themes that this university ought to be pursuing....It is important to
explain the difference between UB and other SUNY institutions." Given
UB's size, he added, it's not possible to emphasize in the mission
statement everything that the university does.
	One of the challenges UB faces, Greiner said, is to take the
fact that one-third of the university is post-baccalaureate and make
that benefit undergraduates. "The trick is (to come up with) a
statement that's honest and captures a framework," Greiner said.