Mixing it Up

With fall’s arrival comes a sharpness in the air, a quickened pace, a palpable sense of purpose as students and faculty return to the classroom, music and theater seasons beckon, and the Bulls take to the field. It’s also start-up season for At Buffalo and the ideal occasion to introduce our new “Bullhorn” section, which replaces “On Campus.”

Most noticeably, we are omitting the somewhat constraining labels of North, South and Downtown campuses, opting for a more fluid format that encompasses our physical boundaries but isn’t limited by them—the idea being to enliven our coverage of campus life and to better convey how dynamic and far-ranging are the people and places that collectively make up UB. Indeed, UB professors or students these days may as easily be abroad as in the domestic classroom. Moreover, their research and other activities reverberate well beyond our immediate campus borders in Amherst, University Heights and downtown.

Certainly, we’re still celebrating our physical grounds and buildings. Within this new section, for instance, you’ll see a roundup of several major construction projects happening right now on our three campuses. But this new format allows us a little more flexibility in depicting campus life and culture, and lets us have some fun along the way. You’ll notice a greater emphasis on visuals, with lots of short pieces and more topics than we could possibly manage before making this shift.

Also revamped this issue is our president’s column, which since the first issue has consisted of a response to a question randomly posed by a UB undergraduate. While we liked the format and relished including a student voice, the question rarely allowed Dr. Tripathi to address those issues uppermost on his mind. Our new president’s column, titled “The President’s Page,” will allow the president to write in a timely fashion on a subject he has personally chosen.

Please let us know what you think of these changes, and, as always, share your thoughts on our feature articles and our other regular sections, also likely to evolve as we further develop our content and respond to reader surveys and feedback.

Just as the most artfully fashioned storefront can’t stay the same for too long and expect to attract a sufficient number of shoppers, so must magazines evolve with each changing season. Even so, we hope to demonstrate that the modifications introduced in this issue aren’t mere window dressing. Rather, they represent our best efforts to ensure that At Buffalo stays supple in form while reflecting the ever-changing landscape that is UB.

Ann Whitcher Gentzke, Editor