Mara B. Huber is special assistant to the president for educational initiatives and director of the UB-Buffalo Public Schools (UB-BPS) Partnership.

What does your job entail as President Simpson’s special assistant for educational initiatives?

I advise the president on issues related to pre-K-16 engagement while directing UB’s partnership with the Buffalo Public Schools. I also have had the privilege of starting up the Center for Educational Collaboration (CEC), which serves as the hub for our pre-K-16 initiatives.

Pre-K-16 education is one of the president’s priorities. Why is it so important for UB to be involved in education in the community?

Part of our public service mission is to utilize the intellectual resources of the university to address important public challenges. The challenges facing urban education in America are some of the greatest ones we face in this generation and the Buffalo Public Schools present us with a unique opportunity to contribute in this regard. UB has so much to offer school districts like Buffalo. By coordinating our outreach efforts in a way that is strategic and aligned with district needs, we can maximize our collective impact and strengthen the pipeline between pre-K-12 and higher education.

How does this fit into UB 2020?

Like UB 2020, our partnership with Buffalo emphasizes strategic growth through interdisciplinary research and collaboration. Because the challenges facing urban districts like Buffalo are so complex and systemic, we must explore solutions that are multifaceted and involve research-based models that can be evaluated and replicated for maximal impact. In addition to engaging faculty from the various strategic strengths, our partnership will also increase the pool of talented area students from which UB can draw.

Tell me about UB’s partnership with the Buffalo Public Schools.

The partnership was announced in December 2006 by President Simpson and Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent James Williams with a pledge to mobilize and coordinate diverse university resources with the goal of strengthening students’ preparation for college and beyond. At the core of the partnership are five major areas of focus: capacity building, research and evaluation, academic acceleration, pre-K-16 programs and student support, which has been newly added. New initiatives within these areas are facilitated by the CEC, which was created to coordinate UB’s educational outreach activities, including those associated with the UB-BPS Partnership.

What are some of the ongoing pre-K-16 initiatives UB is involved in?

We have initiatives in several areas:

• Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM): STEM has become a partnership priority with a number of current and proposed projects targeting teacher professional development and preparation, and accelerated learning opportunities for students, including the Excelsior Scholars Program.

• Research and Evaluation: In collaboration with the Center for Social Research, we recently completed the first phase of a five-year efficacy study evaluating the impact of district initiatives on student success.

• Arts: The Center for the Arts has partnered with the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts to provide consulting support and engage students in CFA activities and programs.

• Scholarships: Three full-ride scholarships will be awarded to BPS students through the newly created Buffalo Partnership Scholars Program. The scholarships were made possible by generous donations made at the UB Scholarship Gala, which raised nearly $75,000 that was matched by President Simpson. These scholarships emphasize community service as well as academic excellence and exemplify UB’s commitment to the success of Buffalo students.

What’s your background? Are you an educator?

I have always been engaged in education, although my background is somewhat nontraditional. I began with a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology, studying the structures and processes involved in learning, with a focus on language perception. Following my degree, I worked within schools of education—first as an assistant professor at Fredonia State College and then as director of special programs in the UB Graduate School of Education. The latter led to my year-long “residency” with the Buffalo schools, where I worked directly with the superintendent to learn about the needs and challenges of the district. It was this experience that lay the foundation for my current role as director of the UB-BPS Partnership.

What question do you wish I had asked, and how would you have answered it?

Can we really make a difference in the Buffalo schools? Yes, although I often find that folks are polarized with respect to this question. They either feel the challenges are so great that nothing will work, or that the solution is so obvious that if they could only get in there to “fix” things, everything would be better. As always, the answer lies somewhere in the middle. I have learned that Buffalo’s challenges are very complex and systemic—there are no simple solutions. However, if we are strategic with our efforts, we can make a difference. By meeting the district where it is—which is critical—and supporting its growth through clearly defined and evaluated initiatives, we already have begun to see tangible progress. It is my hope that we can continue to build on these efforts so that we can experience the full potential of our partnership.