By GREGORY MICHAELIDIS
Reporter Contributor

It was hard not to run into a UB Believer in Albany on Monday as a contingent of UB supporters, volunteers and administrators met with leaders of the State Legislature as part of the annual UB Day.

The group fanned out to meet with elected officials and their key staff members and then gathered for an end-of-the day reception with those individuals before heading back to Buffalo. It included more than a dozen regional leaders representing the UB Council and UB Foundation, as well as the local labor, government and corporate community members and senior UB administrators.

Their goal: making the case that supporting the goals of UB 2020, including the university’s 40 percent growth between now and the year 2020, is not only vital to the future of the university, but strategically smart for New York state.

Marsha S. Henderson, vice president for external affairs, said Monday’s event was the most multifaceted approach to UB Day in a number of years.

As the result of university outreach over the past year, “most of the legislators are aware of the details of our plans,” she noted. “Today was an opportunity for them to hear directly from members of the broad coalition across Western New York that supports UB’s aspirations as the community’s ‘big idea’ that will impact the region’s economy and the quality of life of its residents.”

UB Council member and M&T Bank President Mark Czarnecki told members of the Western New York delegation that the business community has rallied to support UB 2020, in part because it looked internally to self-finance portions of the plan before seeking additional support form the state. Stuart Angert, a member of the board of UB’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, added that “for the first time in decades, there’s a tailwind” behind a large, community-wide effort.

Throughout the day, UB Council member Pamela Heilman remarked on the breadth of the coalition that supported UB’s plan, noting the presence of business, labor, community and alumni representatives at every meeting.

Sen. Dale Volker complimented President John B. Simpson and the visiting business and community leaders, saying that the remarkable degree of unity behind UB 2020 was rare for a region that has more often been known for its divisions. Citing the broad community support represented at UB Day, Volker added that he has received comments from downstate legislators about the remarkable unity around UB’s plans.

Jordan Levy, a UBF trustee, noted at meetings with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno that a strong UB would be a “brain gain” for a region that would build the foundation for a new local economy “for the next 50 years.”

Simpson pointed out to legislators that in the 1970s, Seattle was plagued by high unemployment. But Washington state committed itself to public higher education, and “Seattle was transformed by the commitment to a great public research university,” the University of Washington, where Simpson was a faculty member for 23 years. New York state’s investment in UB 2020, he added, would have a similar impact on UB and Buffalo Niagara.