October 25, 2001-Vol33n8: Greiner outlines UB's goals

Greiner outlines UB's goal
President delivers annual address to members of voting faculty

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The university's major goals for the next five years are to improve the quality of the undergraduate student body, expand and improve the quality of its graduate programs and increase sponsored research, President William R. Greiner told members of the university community on Oct. 16 during his annual address to the voting faculty.

In order to reach those goals, the university must improve its infrastructure—with a "wish list" of $550 million in new construction and equipment over five years—as well as continue to revitalize the quality of life for students on campus, Greiner said.

Deviating from his usual approach of reviewing the past year's accomplishments during his annual address to the voting faculty, Greiner's remarks last week focused on the university's mission and vision for the next five years and beyond.

He noted that SUNY central administration has reversed course and now is willing to recognize UB as a "flagship" university of the "midwestern type," like the universities of Michigan and Iowa.

This "breakthrough" by central administration came out of the mission review process in which SUNY and UB agreed upon key outcomes, he said, including enrollment objectives, increasing sponsored research and improving the quality of students and programs.

Improving the quality of the undergraduate student body by standard measures—and increasing selectivity—was a point Greiner said was underscored by the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, who noted that "we cannot have so great a spread" between the talent and aspirations of the faculty and those of the student body," Greiner said.

In order to achieve that, he said, UB will no longer accept students who are in the two lowest categories of a five-category index determined by the intersection by SAT scores and high-school average. "Our goal is to move the bulk of our student population into groups one and two (most selective and highly selective), with the ultimate goal being to have all students coming from the top two categories. The exception, he said, would be those students for whom "you're going to take some special risks for social reasons," as well as international and "non-conventional" students.

Another key indicator of the quality of the student body is the retention rate, he added. "Ours is not bad currently (84.6 percent for freshman to sophomore) for a public institution, but we need to make it much better," he said, citing a goal of reaching a 90 percent within five years.

UB must improve the quality of its graduate programs if the university is to be a true "midwestern-type flagship" university, he said, adding that SUNY will support expansion of graduate programs, particularly at the master's level, because it's a "high state need; a high social need," he said.

Moreover, one of UB's strategies for growing the institution "is to grow our income, and you grow your income and your faculty as a result of high-quality master's programs that serve the needs of students," Greiner said.

The responsibility for improving graduate programs lies with the professional schools and the CAS, he said, adding, "We've got to rely on the faculty for its leadership." But in the end, he said, "a quality graduate program rests on a foundation of a quality undergraduate program."

Greiner's presentation laid out ambitious goals for increasing sponsored research—total annual research expenditures would rise from the current expenditures of $152 million to $210 million by 2005, with federal research expenditures of $110 million.

He noted that a dollar invested in research translates into more money available to the campus and to the community-at-large.

"It's essentially a 3:1 multiplier—$120 million worth of sponsored program activity really is worth three times that," he said. "We've persuaded the state of the idea that the research enterprise of a university is itself an important industry, an important economic activity."

Greiner noted that if UB sees the additional income it expects to derive from increased sponsored program activity, increased enrollment and other activity, it could be able to hire at least 300 new faculty members—in addition to replacing those who retire in the next five years. "We could see as many as 600 new faculty members—300 of those being net additions to faculty over the next five years," he said.

In order to reach its goals, UB must grow its infrastructure, Greiner said. He cited a "wish list" of $550 million in infrastructure expenditures, including construction of new buildings, renovation of existing buildings and the purchase of new equipment over the next five to seven years. In addition, $30 million is needed to expand UB's IT capacity over five years, he said.

Greiner noted that the university will not receive the entire $550 million from the state; he is hopeful to receive 40-50 percent from the state.

"This university has got to start thinking in terms of other sources of support for capital projects," such as "state special items." For example, UB received money through the NYSTAR program to buy the former Westwood Squibb building in Buffalo to use for research, he said.

In addition, money is available for construction and equipment through federal sources such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health; corporate partners, such as Sun Microsystems and Toshiba, and private foundations.

"We have to think in terms of getting buildings on our own and equipment on our own, not just from state money," he said.