Summary Findings

Proposed Field House and Tennis Center on North Campus (Building UB, 105).

Proposed Field House and Tennis Center on North Campus (Building UB, 105).

The University at Buffalo has evolved significantly from its inception in 1846, with an initial founding focus of the University as a medical school, to the present day research intensive public university that is a flagship institution of the State University of New York system. It is now the largest and most comprehensive campus in the 64 campus SUNY system.

Introduction

The University grew from those initial roots in Downtown Buffalo to the Main Street Campus, or South Campus as it now known. In 1962, the private University of Buffalo was absorbed into SUNY and became the University at Buffalo and in 1968 the State University Construction Fund commissioned a comprehensive campus plan for the newly acquired property in Amherst. This master plan was ambitious:

10.6 million gross square feet (GSF) of buildings to house 32,500 full-time students and an overall campus population of 50,000.

The present day plans for the University are more realistic in terms of size and population, but equally ambitious in terms of clarity of vision for the University’s three campuses and a long term strategy for academic excellence and improving the quality of facilities, amenities and the environment.

Please refer to the Phase I Report for detailed description of the history of the University.

Academic Mission and Strategic Plan

The pursuit and practice of academic excellence is the University at Buffalo’s guiding institutional principle.

As the University at Buffalo looks to the future, it is imperative that it establishes the appropriate institutional conditions that will allow academic excellence to flourish. The University at Buffalo will pursue and practice academic excellence in ways that ensures its institutional commitment to integrity, collegiality, equity, diversity, and to educational access.