UB receives $10 million gift for diversity initiatives

Thanks to the entrepreneurial success of the late Carl V. Granger, founder of Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation (UDSmr), a venture he created in partnership with UB and the UB Foundation, the university has received a $10 million gift to its Boldly Buffalo campaign.

In a reaffirmation of the UB scholarly community’s mission and values of equity, diversity and inclusion, President Satish K. Tripathi has announced that the gift will be used to help realize UB’s mission and values of equity, diversity and inclusion through the recruitment, retention and support of faculty and student scholars.

The gift will fund university-wide diversity initiatives and student scholarships, and to establish endowed faculty positions.

Promoting a university-wide culture of equity and inclusion is one of UB’s overarching goals to achieve the university’s Top 25 Ambition. With this transformational gift, the university will be able to further enhance faculty and student diversity through focused hiring and enrollment strategies.

“As a university community, we know we can contribute to the greater good through the education of our students and through our faculty’s research, creative work and clinical care,” Tripathi says. “We know we can effect change. And this gift, with the hope of inspiring additional philanthropy, helps to support our work in dismantling structural barriers so we can continue to build upon our university culture that thrives on the ideals of equity, diversity, inclusion and social justice.”

Granger was professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. While at UB, he established UDSmr and it became the largest national registry of standardized information of medical rehabilitation. A third-generation African American physician, he was lauded for his cutting-edge research and innovation in medical rehabilitation.

“At UB, we are dedicated to recruiting outstanding faculty to solve problems, ask the most important questions, find cures, develop new technology and offer transformative educational experiences for our students,” says A. Scott Weber, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “Dr. Granger, who passed away in 2019, left a legacy of cutting-edge medical research and innovation to the medical rehabilitation community. It will be a privilege to appoint professors in his name and recruit students who embody his bold spirit and continue to push the boundaries of knowledge and discovery.”

Boldly Buffalo is a university-wide initiative, with 17 UB schools, colleges and units benefitting from the generosity and passion of UB donors. Since the launch of the campaign in 2013, alumni, friends and key community partners have committed more than $690 million for student support, faculty research and innovative programs that better our world.