Students in the Master's Program in Applied Economics learned how their subject matter is related to the administration of higher education when SUNY Chancellor Robert L. King made an appearance Friday in the program's Visiting Speakers' Series.

King-on campus to attend a press conference announcing UB's $250 million capital campaign-told students that as the SUNY system more aggressively pursues federal research grants, as well as private money, he expects the system to fare much better in national rankings like those published by U.S. News and World Report.

"Running a university is very dependent on money," King said, noting that funds are needed to attract the best faculty and obtain the best equipment and facilities.

But the SUNY system traditionally has limited its fund-raising efforts to the state legislature, whose generosity can vary from year to year.

"What I'm saying to our campus presidents-the reason I'm here (at UB) today, by the way-is that we have to stop being captive to the state legislature," he said. "But we have not been very good as an institution in getting alumni support, corporate support, in bringing in federal research dollars."

He pointed out that New York State is the second or third largest state in the country and has more superb universities-both public and private-than any other state. Yet it is eighth in the amount of money it receives in research money from the federal government.

California receives $14.5 billion, while New York receives only $2.9 billion, across all public and private institutions, he said. "But California is not five times bigger than us, and they're certainly not five times better than us," he said.

A more telling example, he said, is the State of Georgia, which ranks fourth on the list of federal research money.

"You cannot tell me that there's justification to support more money going to the State of Georgia than comes to New York. The problem here is that we have not been aggressive in going after federal research dollars," he said.

To help correct that problem, King said, he has hired the premier lobbying firm in Washington to help SUNY "go after federal research dollars."

Moreover, he said, he came to UB to show support for the university's efforts to raise $250 million "to make sure this university is no longer so dependent on whatever the state legislature does that it can't grow and can't make the kinds of investments that we need to make.

"So I am very confident that as we increase the amount of federal research dollars coming in to support our efforts, as we start to raise our own money, that we will do very well in all these rankings," he said.

"My hope is that we will be seen in the next decade as the No. 1 public university. But it's going to take money."

King noted it's also important to establish relationships with the business community. "We have to give them the confidence in us that they hire our graduates and that they support us financially," he said.

To that end, King said that SUNY has created an Office of Industrial and Business Relations "to make the whole of the university available to businesses across the state."

There currently is no mechanism for relaying to businesses across the state information on students' job skills, training programs and research efforts at the various SUNY campuses, he said. The Office of Industrial and Business Relations will have a system-wide database of this information so businesses easily can find the information they need.

King added that the top priority in the next legislative session for the New York State Business Council is investment in higher education.

"It's not because they love all of us so much; their own interests says to them 'we need people and we need people with a high level of skills.'"

Businesses are turning down opportunities because they do not have the employees they need, he said.

"Do no despair," he urged students who expressed concern about a stagnant job market in upstate New York. "I'm telling you the opportunities are there."