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Despite pending cuts, UB to pursue vision


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    Read the president and provost’ letter.

By SUE WUETCHER
Published: October 12, 2009

Despite having to further cut UB’s budget due to Gov. David Paterson’s order last week that SUNY slash spending by an additional $90 million, UB will continue to pursue its goal of becoming a premier public research university.

That was the message in a letter emailed to the university community Friday afternoon by President John B. Simpson and Provost Satish K. Tripathi.

UB’s chief administrators said it is not known at this point how much of the $90 million hit UB will have to take. Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher plans to convene a panel of campus presidents and business officers to provide guidance on how to implement the latest round of reductions.

“While we cannot, at this moment, predict the outcome of these discussions, we will continue to emphasize that today—more than ever—we must, as a nation and as a state, invest in higher education: Higher education is fundamental to our nation’s and state’s future economic growth and prosperity,” they wrote.

In the meantime, they said that UB is preparing for the next budget reductions, which come on top of about $21 million in permanent cuts last year and an additional $10 to $11 million this year, including reductions in state funding and other revenues.

The university-wide Strategic Financial Management Advisory Group, formed by Tripathi in August 2008 to address the initial round of SUNY cuts, has been meeting and will continue to discuss the issue, they said, noting that through this group, UB has established “core principles to inform a university strategic financial plan. The overarching principle is to act in ways that best maintain our long-term vision as a premier public research university,” Simpson and Tripathi wrote.

In addition, the university’s senior leadership—the president, provost, vice presidents and deans—has been discussing potential solutions to anticipated budget reductions, they said, adding that decisions concerning budget reductions will be communicated to the UB community.

“These are challenging times indeed for our nation, state and our university,” the president and provost said. “With that said, we know unequivocally that we must preserve our core academic mission. And together as a community of scholars and professionals, we must do all that we can to provide our students with an education that inspires and a research enterprise that illuminates the unseen, which, as a whole, will enrich lives today and the lives of future generations.”