Big announcement dominates 2025

The year 2025 was another stellar year for UB.

Momentum continued to build for artificial intelligence. UB launched the Department of AI and Society, which offers courses that blend AI with communications, geography and other disciplines. Gov. Kathy Hochul, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. and other dignitaries visited campus to receive updates on the progress of Empire AI and to hear the latest from faculty about their AI research as increasing numbers of faculty and staff across campus incorporate AI into their research and teaching.

UB enrolled a record first-year class for the fall semester, with more than 5,000 entering students bringing the university’s total enrollment to more than 30,000 for the seventh consecutive year.

In January, the men’s football team won its second Bahamas Bowl, recording its fourth straight bowl win. Later in the spring, the women’s basketball team defeated Troy, 88-84, in front of a record crowd in Alumni Arena to win their first WNIT championship — and a program-record 30th game of the season. 

But when looking back at the year, there was one single event that dominated conversation among faculty, staff and students across UB’s three campuses, as well as in the greater Buffalo community: President Satish K. Tripathi’s announcement in September that he would step down from the presidency in July 2026 after 15 years at the helm and return to his faculty role in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

In his final State of the University address 10 days later, Tripathi thanked the campus community and reminded them of all they have accomplished together over the years. And because of that collective work, he said, UB has become one of the premiere public research universities in the country.

All this — and much more of everyday life at UB — was documented by University Communications photographers Douglas Levere and Meredith Forrest Kulwicki. The pair completed nearly 600 assignments, with approximately 10,000 edited images being uploaded to the university’s photo database.

This collection highlights just some of the most memorable moments and UB achievements documented by Levere and Forrest Kulwicki in 2025.

Check out UBNow for more stories and photos of life at UB.