About the Position

The University at Buffalo (UB) invites inquiries, nominations, and applications for the position of dean of the School of Architecture and Planning (SAP). A member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a flagship and the largest and most comprehensive public research university in the State University of New York (SUNY) system, UB is an internationally renowned center for academic excellence. Ranked No. 3 among architecture and planning schools in the United States based on the Scholarly Research Index, UB’s SAP is renowned for the quality of its academic programs and its innovation and excellence in research and design. SAP faculty, staff and students have been deeply involved in the economic resurgence of the Buffalo-Niagara region.

The SAP dean is a member of the university’s senior leadership team, working with the president, provost, deans and other senior leaders to advance the university’s mission of excellence in teaching, research, and engagement. As the chief academic and administrative officer of the school, the dean reports to the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and is responsible for providing overall leadership to the school to promote academic excellence, foster an inclusive environment, and advance its national and international prominence in research, education, and engagement activities.

UB seeks an accomplished professional, educator, researcher and leader with a strong commitment to advancing architecture and planning scholarship, creative activities and education. The ideal candidate will be an accomplished, recognized scholar, an intellectual driver, an advocate for the school and the university, a facilitator of interdisciplinary work within the school and across the university, an energetic and engaged partner in building and enhancing relationships with the school’s many constituents and larger community, and a skilled administrator.

The dean should have substantial experience in a distinguished academic or comparable setting and the ability to formulate and articulate a shared vision for the school and engage stakeholders in its implementation. The dean will be a distinguished academic in architecture and/or planning and will have a strong record of significant scholarly and/or design accomplishments, excellence in teaching and mentorship, and a service record appropriate to the rank of full professor at a research university.

In addition, candidates should demonstrate significant capacity for and a clear vision for progress in the following areas:

• Leading faculty and staff in defining the school’s vision and direction to further advance its prominence and impact in research, design, education, professional practice, and outreach
• Recruiting, motivating and retaining talented and diverse faculty
• Fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive community within the school
• Promoting increased sponsored research and prestigious external faculty and student awards and honors
• Providing leadership and oversight for all classroom, studio, experiential and international educational activities, enhancing opportunities for student success
• Maintaining the highest standards of quality through ensuring the integrity and clarity of the tenure and promotion processesProviding resourceful and sound financial, structural and human resources management for the school
• Enhancing the school’s partnerships and engagement within the university and the regional community to provide excellent research, design, experiential learning, and educational opportunities
• Advocating for the school and university and widely promoting the accomplishments of faculty, students and programs
• Devoting substantial effort to alumni relations and philanthropic activities in support of the mission of the university and school

Applications and nominations should be submitted as indicated at the end of this profile.

Opportunities and Challenges

The successful dean will have a deep understanding of trends and issues in architecture and planning, and the professional experience to address opportunities and challenges that are central to the school’s future success:

Recruit and retain outstanding faculty and foster their success in research, design, planning, innovation, education, and engagement

The dean is responsible for the recruitment, appointment, promotion and tenure of an outstanding, diverse and productive faculty in the school. The dean will seek creative ways to maximize school, university and SUNY resources to recruit and retain faculty and support faculty activities and development. This includes resources through UB’s Advancing Top 25: Faculty Hiring initiative to grow our faculty base and amplify our impact on the world.

The dean will invest in promising new faculty, enable the promotion and advancement of faculty, increase the presence of accomplished senior faculty, and provide incentives and encouragement to retain the school’s distinguished scholars. As an academic and administrative leader, the dean must provide visionary, collaborative, and inspiring leadership in the ongoing support and development of all faculty members in their roles of teaching, research/design, and service.

SAP is internationally renowned for its research and design accomplishments and its excellent, hands-on educational programs. It is among the highest ranked schools at the university and a key contributor to UB’s Top 25 aspiration. The dean will continue to advance the SAP’s reputation and strength in alignment with UB’s institutional goals. This includes promoting and facilitating increased levels of external funding that will extend the portfolio and impact of faculty research, creative and civically engaged activities. In addition, the dean will enhance the impact of faculty work by encouraging faculty to seek prestigious grants, fellowships, awards and honors, and developing strategies to support and increase national and international recognition. The dean will actively pursue new internal and external partnerships in support of SAP scholarship and activities, and work with the faculty to identify additional opportunities. At the same time, the dean will continue to develop and improve research and studio infrastructure and strategically invest relevant resources to promote faculty productivity.

Develop innovative enrollment strategies and academic/academic support programs aligned with school strengths and students’ and society’s needs

The dean provides leadership to the school’s varied educational programs, maintaining the high caliber of those programs while exploring opportunities for curricular change and innovation. The dean will value the school’s teaching mission, and work with faculty to develop processes to continually evaluate programs to ensure they instill students with the knowledge, skills and professionalism necessary to be tomorrow’s architects, planners, scholars, teachers and leaders. The dean will ensure that SAP offers academic support programs that enhance student retention and success while at UB and beyond. The dean will lead initiatives to develop new, innovative and distinctive academic programs, as appropriate. This includes increasing experiential learning, interprofessional, and international opportunities; developing interdisciplinary programs with other units on campus; and launching innovative programs that may expand beyond existing academic structures.

With strong interest in SAP programs, the school has an opportunity to enhance the quality and diversity of the student body through program innovation and excellence. While demand for SAP programs at UB is currently robust, the field is not immune to enrollment challenges. The dean will have a comprehensive understanding of the issues facing architecture and planning schools around the nation. The ideal candidate must be creative, flexible, innovative, and willing to meet these challenges with new ideas and optimism. This includes finding ways to increase and leverage resources to consistently optimize enrollment, growing in high demand areas, and working with faculty to develop programs and experiences that represent unique and distinctive areas of excellence at SAP.

Foster a diverse, equitable and inclusive community

The new dean must have a vision for, as well as a record of success in, recruiting, supporting, mentoring and retaining faculty, staff and students from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives and ensuring the sustainability of these efforts. Diversity, inclusion, and respect are core values of the UB and SAP communities. UB is committed to harnessing its educational, research and engagement energies to combat racism, dismantle structural barriers to equity, and make UB a more inclusive place to live, learn and work. In 2014, UB was a pioneer within SUNY in creating a cabinet-level, university diversity officer position, the vice provost for inclusive excellence, responsible for coordinating and monitoring UB’s efforts to institutionalize a culture of equity and inclusion university-wide in collaboration with unit diversity officers representing each of the schools. Since 2020, through the President’s Advisory Council on Race (PACOR), faculty, students and staff from across the university have been involved in efforts to address critical issues relevant to curriculum; pedagogy; faculty and staff hiring, retention and advancement; the campus experience; and community engagement. Through their strategic plan and their Racial Justice, Equity and Inclusion Committee, the SAP is building a more equitable, just and diverse community within the school. 

One of the university’s top priorities is to improve the hiring and retention of faculty members from diverse sociocultural backgrounds, with a goal to at least double the number of faculty from underrepresented backgrounds at UB by 2025. In support of this goal, several individual schools have launched or grown faculty pipeline programs. University-wide, UB launched the Distinguished Visiting Scholars program, among the largest and most comprehensive program of its kind, and the innovative Visiting Future Faculty (VITAL) program, which brings late-stage PhD scholars from historically underrepresented groups to UB to present work and engage with community. As a result of these efforts, the percentage of historically underrepresented faculty hires has increased from around 7% in 2017 to around 35% in 2022.

Encourage and support interdisciplinary relationships across departments and schools

While the dean’s central responsibility is the success of the SAP, the dean is also a leader within the university community. UB is committed to using its strengths and comprehensiveness to address the world’s grand challenges through transdisciplinary research and education, detailed below. SAP faculty members are integral partners and leaders in a variety of innovative campus-wide and multi-school research, education, and engagement initiatives. We seek a dean who will continue to support UB’s interdisciplinary research and educational programs, promote faculty participation in them, and develop new opportunities for future partnerships.

Maintain and enhance the school’s external partnerships and engagement with local, national and global communities

The dean represents the SAP to internal and external constituents, as well as national and international groups to promote and create support for educational, scholarly, design and engagement programs. The dean will maintain and develop relationships with state and local government agencies, corporations, foundations, nonprofits, and the local business and design community. The dean will be an engaged community member, enhancing the school’s existing relationships, while developing new relationships and collaborations to develop and expand programs with government and community partners. In addition, the dean will encourage and support faculty activities, educational programs, and engagement activities that make a difference beyond the campus.

Advance alumni relations and philanthropic support

Now more than ever, universities must engage alumni and friends as strategic partners. SAP’s more than 6,400 alumni are one of the school’s greatest resources in recruitment, community relations, research and design activities, mentorship, and philanthropy. SAP alumni and friends of the school serve on the Dean’s Council, a leadership group dedicated to raising the SAP’s global profile, advancing its academic programs and research enterprise, and helping build its network of support. In cooperation with the university development and alumni groups, the dean will champion alumni engagement for SAP. As part of the Boldly Buffalo campaign and beyond, the dean will be an energetic, enthusiastic and convincing advocate with alumni and other donors to explore mutual interests, needs and opportunities, and thus broaden and deepen the school’s fundraising efforts. 

Established in 1969 as the only school of architecture and planning within the SUNY system, the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning is among the top public architecture and planning schools in the United States, ranking in the top ten among AAU peers in several key research indicators in Academic Analytics. Deeply connected to the regional community and embedded in urban contexts around the world, the school approaches the study and practice of architecture, urban planning and real estate development hands on and at full scale.

SAP is committed to fostering equity, inclusion, diversity and justice within the school, and within the fields of architecture, urban planning and real estate development.  SAP has made cultivating equity, inclusion and diversity a strategic priority through explicit planning and action. SAP’s five-year strategic plan includes inclusion and equity as a key goal and integrates related action in all strategic priorities of the school. SAP faculty and students work across disciplines and with community partners to break down barriers to equity and social justice through research, teaching and practice. In addition, SAP is dedicated to enhancing diversity within the school and the profession, infusing architecture into public schools through the Architecture + Education program to attract the next generation of students, and creating a culture of equity and inclusion through the UB Chapter of the National Organization for Minority Architecture Students and the African American Students of Architecture and Planning groups.

SAP encompasses two departments: Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning. SAP has 81 faculty members and 61 talented, full-time staff. The SAP’s current enrollment is 735 students. SAP’s more than 6,400 alumni hold diverse positions of influence across the architecture and planning professions, from executives and government officials, to real estate developers and historic preservationists, to community activists and the heads of design research enterprises.

The school offers graduate and undergraduate paths of study in architecture, urban planning and real estate development, and unique interdisciplinary programs in international development and global health, media arts and architecture, and historic preservation. The SAP’s architecture programs are accredited by the National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB), most recently in July 2015. The SAP’s master’s in urban planning (MUP) degree is fully accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board, most recently in 2020.

The SAP occupies facilities on UB’s picturesque South Campus. A Western New York landmark that dates back to the 1920s, the South Campus is located in a residential neighborhood in the City of Buffalo and is home to classic ivy-covered buildings as well as cutting-edge research and teaching facilities. The SAP’s state-of-the-art facilities include Hayes Hall, a nationally significant architectural landmark that reopened in 2016 after a comprehensive, $30 million renovation that sets standards in historic preservation, inspirational design and sustainability. The SAP’s primary undergraduate studio spaces are held in Crosby Hall, which is undergoing a comprehensive renovation with re-occupation scheduled for Fall 2023. Further information about the Crosby Hall renovation and pictures of the project are available at https://archplan.buffalo.edu/news/2021/crosbyrenovation.html.

SAP faculty, staff and students also have access to one of the premier fabrication facilities in the Western New York region. The 7,000 square foot Fabrication Workshop is the hub of SAP’s learning-through-making curriculum. Equipped for fabrication of all types, the shop serves both as a space to execute coursework and as a think-tank and makerspace for collaborative research with architectural practice and industry. SAP’s research and fabrication facilities offer the latest digital technologies, printing services and a fully-equipped materials and methods shop, allowing students to visualize, fabricate and develop their ideas and skills.

SAP faculty consistently rank at the top of their peers in the Association of American Universities for research funding and awards. SAP employs 81 faculty members, including 44 full-time faculty (33 tenured/tenure track) and 37 part-time faculty. The Department of Architecture comprises 50 faculty members (7 assistant, 12 associate, 4 full, and 27 non-tenure track) and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning comprises 31 faculty members (3 assistant, 3 associate, 4 full, and 21 non-tenure track). Women make up 36% of SAP faculty, while 6% of are from underrepresented backgrounds. The SAP faculty currently includes two professors who have been promoted to the SUNY Distinguished Ranks—the highest academic rank in the State University of New York system.

Members of the SAP faculty have received numerous awards and honors that recognize the strength and impact of their scholarship, design, teaching, and service. Among other national and international awards, in the last five years, SAP faculty have received the Society of Architectural Historians Spiro Kostof Book Award, Honorary Fellowship in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, American Planning Association Award for Excellence in Sustainability, Architectural League of New York Emerging Voices Award, Urban Affairs Association Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award, McDowell Colony Residency, Environmental Design Research Association Great Places Book Award, and Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Planning and Entrepreneurship Award. SAP faculty have also received a wide variety of design awards from the American Planning Association, AZ Awards, Driehaus Form-Based Codes Institute, American Institute of Steel Construction and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, International Design Awards, iF International Forum, and the Laka Competition, to name just a few. For more examples of the SAP faculty’s myriad accomplishments and recognitions, see the school’s news webpage.

SAP is renowned for its highly interdisciplinary, practice-based research enterprise exploring fields including climate resilience, food systems planning, inclusive design, sustainable building and health equity. Research generated by SAP faculty is published in top architecture and planning journals including Built Environment, Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Architecture and Planning Research, and Journal of Planning Education. In addition to scholarly productivity, SAP impacts multiple sectors: regional development, state and federal policies, and partnerships with global manufacturers and practitioners. From prototypes and built works to installations and exhibitions, SAP creative work is funded by nonprofits, industry and government, and is recognized nationally and globally.

The school’s work in Buffalo has not only transformed the city, but also has propelled the school onto the global stage as a model for community-driven teaching and research, earning invitations to exhibit during the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018 and 2021.

In 2021-22, SAP faculty generated $3.1 million in total research expenditures. National and global agencies funding SAP research and creative activities include the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Community Living, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

The SAP is home to five internationally-regarded research centers through which students learn, work and collaborate with faculty and community partners:

• Center for Architecture and Situated Technologies (CAST): With its research located at the intersection of architecture, new media, and computational technologies, CAST is interested in the possibilities offered by computational systems for rethinking human interaction with the built environment. Focus areas include learning environments, design environments, responsive architecture, and locative media.
• Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDeA Center): Focused on universal design, the IDeA Center is dedicated to enabling and empowering an increasingly diverse population by developing knowledge and tools that improve the human performance, health and wellness and social participation of groups who have been marginalized by traditional design practices.
• Design for Resilient Environments Lab (DRE_Lab): a transdisciplinary team of researchers, citizen scientists and designers who co-investigate critical concerns in and with communities who are vulnerable to urbanization.
• Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab: The “Food Lab” is dedicated to studying the role of planning and policy in facilitating sustainable food systems and healthy communities. The Food Lab conducts research, builds capacity of planners through education and training, and engages in community-based efforts.
• UB Regional Institute: Working alongside community members, government officials and policy leaders, the UB Regional Institute takes an objective approach to understanding complex issues in public policy, urban planning and design and translating them into useful and relevant information. The institute’s networks within the university, business community and public service realms enable it to draw from diverse perspectives and offer innovative and individualized solutions to drive change and progress for our funders, clients and partners.

The University at Buffalo’s long-range strategic vision to be recognized among the Top 25 public research universities in the nation is focused on continually pursuing academic and research excellence, and expanding the university’s engagement and impact locally, nationally and globally. A key UB effort has been to promote and support collaborative, cross-disciplinary research dedicated to addressing the most critical issues, ideas and challenges of our time. SAP faculty members are integral leaders, partners and participants in a variety of innovative campus-wide and multi-school initiatives, including:

• Community Health Equity Research Institute: Conducts research into the root causes of health disparities in the City of Buffalo, developing and testing innovative solutions to reduce these disparities.
• Gender Institute: A university-wide research center that promotes research and teaching related to women, gender, and sexuality and is dedicated to advancing women's and LGBTQ+ leadership, vision, and influence.
• Global Health Equity: Approaches the challenge of reducing global health inequities by bringing together faculty and students from the health sciences and disciplines that are focused on social, economic, political, and environmental conditions that lead to health inequities.
• Humanities Institute: Supports research and provides a forum for conversations among humanists of all disciplines.
• Research and Education in eNergy, Environment and Water (UB RENEW): Addresses complex energy and environmental issues, and their social and economic ramifications through innovative, interdisciplinary research, education and outreach.
• Stephen Still Institute for Sustainable Transportation and Logistics: Brings together researchers from across disciplines to address the fields of transportation, logistics and supply-chain management through cutting-edge research and interdisciplinary education.
• Sustainable Manufacturing and Advanced Robotic Technologies (SMART): Leverages university and regional strengths to develop the next generation of manufacturing, construction, and automation technologies and processes and educate future manufacturing leaders.

UB’s Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development and its constituent units and programs guide and support faculty research, technology transfer and entrepreneurial activities. 

Among the leading architecture and planning schools in the nation with a distinctive hands-on curriculum, SAP consistently attracts talented and diverse students who are passionate about making the world a better place. SAP enrollment for Fall 2022 is 735 students (472 undergraduate, 252 master’s and 11 doctoral). Women make up 43% of SAP students, while 23% of SAP students are from underrepresented backgrounds and 10% are from international backgrounds. In 2022, SAP conferred 147 undergraduate degrees, 112 master’s degrees, and 3 PhDs.

The school offers 10 academic programs. These include the BS and minor in architecture, BA and minor in environmental design, master of architecture (MArch), master of urban planning (MUP), MS in architecture, MS in real estate development, MS in international development and global health, PhD in urban and regional planning, and advanced graduate certificates in historic preservation and affordable housing. In addition, SAP offers several dual and collaborative degree programs: the media arts and architecture program (MArch/MFA or MS/MFA), MArch/MUP, MArch/MBA, MUP/JD, MUP/MPH, MS in real estate development/MBA, and MS in real estate development/MS in finance.

SAP graduates earn degrees that prepare them for professional careers while integrating specialized research knowledge and experience in working with community partners. SAP’s academic programs emphasize thinking-through-making and community engagement, and the school boasts one of the largest material shops for an architecture school that includes conventional and digital fabrication technologies.

With extensive study abroad participation levels, the SAP offers a wide array of travel opportunities that expose students to an array of natural, constructed and cultural landscapes and prepare them for careers in an increasingly global field. SAP’s exchange programs allow students to complete a semester of coursework in Denmark or Germany, while the school’s shorter global in-studio and international experiences enable students to build knowledge and expand their perspectives in a variety of locations including Spain, Costa Rica, Ireland, Japan, Estonia and China.

SAP students, faculty, and staff tackle global issues, ranging from economic inequality and refugee resettlement, to food security and climate-change resilience. But the school plays an especially transformative role in Buffalo, propelling the city’s growth through economic development initiatives, urban design, community organizing, partnerships with industry, and full-scale construction—planning and building neighborhoods, homes, playgrounds, gardens, and the systems that interconnect them.

The school engages in constant creative dialogue with local industries, firms, designers, planners, governments, and an active grassroots movement. Faculty, staff and students have been deeply involved in projects that range from community gardens and gathering spaces to regional economic-development plans to overhauling local building and zoning codes. The SAP has played a key role in civic efforts that revitalized the waterfront on Lake Erie, preserved the Buffalo’s extensive parks system, and seek to catalyze economic development in disadvantaged communities. In 2015, SAP created a Citizen Planning School that has graduated dozens of citizen activists with inspired ideas to improve their communities.

Impactful research, scholarly distinction, transformative student experiences, and far-reaching service to local, state, national, and international communities define UB’s mission as one of the nation’s leading public research universities. UB was founded in 1846 as a private medical college located in downtown Buffalo and joined the SUNY network in 1962. SUNY is the largest state university system in the United States, and UB is a flagship campus and the largest and most comprehensive public research university within the system. In 1989, UB was among the first public universities in the Northeast to be admitted into the AAU. Over the years, UB’s scope and mission have expanded significantly as it has grown into a world-renowned research university that is the thriving heart of the regional community, a national leader in public higher education, and a global hub for excellence in research and education.

UB enrolls more than 32,000 students (approximately two-thirds undergraduate and one-third graduate and professional students), and offers more than 500 degree programs at the baccalaureate, master’s, professional, and doctoral levels across its 12 decanal units. UB is a global community of scholars, ranking among the nation’s top 30 universities for the enrollment of international students in the Open Doors census for two decades. International students currently represent 20% of total enrollment at UB. The university enjoys a strong presence abroad, maintaining affiliation agreements with 100 universities in Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa. UB’s more than 280,000 alumni live in 150 countries worldwide.

UB has a distinguished faculty of over 1,500 full-time members. UB is currently undertaking its largest faculty-hiring initiative in recent history, Advancing Top 25: UB Faculty Hiring, with plans to recruit upward of 200 full-time faculty over the next two years.

UB is home to more than 120 research centers and institutes; its current annual research expenditures, including those in affiliated institutions, exceed $425 million. The University Libraries hold more than four million volumes and provide access to an exceptionally wide array of digital information resources. The Architecture and Planning Library, located in Abbott Hall on UB’s South Campus, contains more than 32,000 books and 100 journal titles covering architecture, design, urban planning, zoning, landscape architecture, urban and environmental studies, and more. The library also includes a special collection of materials on Buffalo and Western New York planning and architecture, with emphasis on such distinguished contributors as Frank Lloyd Wright and Frederick Law Olmsted.

UB’s academic programs and facilities are located on three distinct campuses in the Buffalo metropolitan area. UB’s North Campus, located in the suburb of Amherst, is the university’s main undergraduate campus and home to the university’s primary athletics and cultural facilities. Three miles to the south, on the northern edge of the City of Buffalo, is the university’s historic South Campus, home to many of the university’s professional schools including the School of Architecture and Planning. The focal point of UB’s third, downtown campus center is the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, on which UB’s state-of-the-art Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is located in proximity to the university’s health and life science partners.

Recognizing the key role that a vibrant 21st-century physical campus environment plays in enhancing education, research, and learning, UB is realizing a long-range Master Plan for enhancing its North, South, and Downtown campus spaces and connecting them more effectively to their surrounding communities.

With an annual operating revenue of $810 million, UB and its affiliated entities generate an estimated economic impact of $2.1 billion annually in New York State. The university’s total workforce of over 9,000 full-time equivalent employees makes it one of the region’s largest employers. UB is also a leader and an active partner with the more than 20 public and private colleges and universities in the Buffalo-Niagara region.

Internationally recognized as an accomplished researcher and transformative higher education leader, Satish K. Tripathi  was appointed the 15th president of the University at Buffalo on April 18, 2011.

The first international-born president in UB’s history, Dr. Tripathi served as UB’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs from 2004-2011, was one of the principal creators of UB’s long-range strategic plan, which led the university to achieve significant growth in research and scholarly activity, improved the caliber and diversity of students, transformed the university’s living-learning environment and greatly expanded its international presence. Building on these impactful achievements, today Dr. Tripathi is focused on positioning UB among the top 25 public research universities in the nation. UB’s Top 25 Ambition is dedicated to achieving greater societal impact by enhancing the university’s scholarly productivity and growing its research portfolio; providing students with innovative, research-grounded educational experiences; building upon UB’s university-wide culture of equity and inclusion; and deepening the university’s engagement in the region by strengthening partnerships, with the goal of contributing to positive health outcomes and economic vitality. 

Prior to coming to UB, Dr. Tripathi served as dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California-Riverside, where he led that school’s rise from an unranked program to a position in the upper half of the U.S. News and World Report Best Engineering Graduate School rankings. Previously, he was a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, where his 19-year tenure as a faculty member included serving as chair from 1988-1995. Dr. Tripathi graduated at the top of his class from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in India and holds a doctorate in computer science from the University of Toronto along with three master's degrees—one in computer science from the University of Toronto and two in statistics from the University of Alberta and BHU. A fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he holds honorary degrees from the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, and Brock University in Ontario, Canada. In 2009, he was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by Banaras Hindu University.

An active leader in the national higher education community, Dr. Tripathi serves on the College Football Playoff Board of Managers and Internet2 Board of Trustees and has served on the board of directors for the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Additionally, he has served as chair of the Mid American Conference Council of Presidents as well as on the board of the NCAA Division I and NCAA Board of Governors. Among his numerous community leadership roles, Dr. Tripathi serves on the boards of directors of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and Great Lakes Health System of WNY. In 2011, Dr. Tripathi was appointed the inaugural co-chair of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council, a position he held until 2017.

As Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, A. Scott Weber serves as the university’s chief academic officer, responsible for leading the development and implementation of the university’s academic vision. Dr. Weber provides leadership across the academic enterprise including research, scholarship and creative activities; undergraduate, graduate, professional and international education; faculty development; diversity and inclusion initiatives; and university libraries.

A member of UB’s faculty since 1983, Dr. Weber is an innovative scholar and teacher and former chair of UB’s Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. During his time as chair, the department rose significantly in national rankings.  

Dr. Weber has held progressively responsible administrative roles at UB, including senior vice provost for academic affairs, where he provided leadership for graduate and undergraduate education, centralized enrollment services, student-support services and transformative extracurricular programs. He led efforts to ensure that students have an outstanding educational experience with opportunities to engage in truly distinctive research, creative and public service activities that are hallmarks of a top-tier university education. He was instrumental in the creation of the UB Curriculum and the nationally recognized Finish in 4 program. In addition, Dr. Weber served as vice president for student life, where he focused on providing UB’s students with exceptional programs and services that offer opportunities to build communities, encourage discovery, promote wellness, and allow students to grow and prosper.

Dr. Weber’s research focuses on biodegradation of chemicals in water and soil and the reclamation of environmentally impacted sites known as brownfields. He earned bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees in civil engineering from Virginia Tech and a PhD in civil engineering from the University of California, Davis.

The State University of New York is the nation’s largest and most comprehensive state university system, consisting of 64 campuses including major research universities, health science centers, comprehensive and technical colleges, and community colleges, all committed to providing a broad range of outstanding academic programs for students within New York and from around the world. It enrolls more than 394,000 students annually, employs more than 67,000 faculty and staff, and connects more than three million alumni around the world. 

UB acknowledges that our campuses operate on land that is the traditional territory of the Seneca Nation, a member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the region remains the home of the Haudenosaunee people. Further, we responsibly acknowledge the continuing impact of settler colonialism on the Haudenosaunee and their territories.

Our scholarly community values Indigenous cultures, histories, traditions, knowledge systems, and political entities and deeply appreciates the important role of Indigenous people in the history, the present and the future of our region, this country and the world.

As a world-renowned research university, UB’s intellectual capital and innovation are playing a vital role in Buffalo’s resurgence as a thriving city that is a magnet for talented professionals, artists, entrepreneurs, and innovators who recognize the tremendous energy and momentum gathering here. Home to one of the nation’s fastest growing populations of college graduates, the Buffalo-Niagara region, with 1.2 million residents, is the state’s second largest major metropolitan area, exceeded only by New York City. The region includes a diverse blend of communities, each with its own distinct personality, yet commonly characterized by a distinctly neighborly way of life, an unpretentious nature and spirited loyalty among residents. Buffalo’s own strong sense of community, easy lifestyle, and affordability regularly place it in top ten lists from a variety of national publications for its overall quality of life.

Buffalo offers an impressive array of cultural and recreational opportunities uncommon for a city of its size. Buffalo’s rich cultural resources reflect its distinguished history and commitment to sustaining the arts, including the Grammy Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; the world-class collection of modern painting and sculpture at the Albright-Knox Art Museum; an extensive array of historic architectural treasures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, H.H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Eero and Eliel Saarinen; an expansive park system (including Delaware Park), considered to be the very best work of designer Frederick Law Olmsted; and a variety of summer festivals. The city is home to the state’s largest concentration of theaters outside of New York City. From the Michigan Street Baptist Church, to the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, to the Colored Musicians Club and Jazz Museum, the Buffalo Niagara region has a rich African-American heritage to explore. Buffalo is a family friendly, livable and affordable city, with Niagara Falls, one of the major tourist attractions of the world, a short drive away. Buffalo is close to two wine growing regions—Niagara Escarpment and the Finger Lakes region—and it was named one of the Top 10 Food Cities by National Geographic. In addition, the Adirondack Mountains are half-day’s drive from Buffalo.

Rich in natural resources and beauty, the Buffalo-Niagara area is a four-season region that offers the best for seasonal sports enthusiasts. University at Buffalo fans enjoy a full complement of NCAA division I sports with the UB Bulls, as well as the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, Triple-A baseball’s Buffalo Bisons, and the National Lacrosse League’s Buffalo Bandits.

Less than a two-hour drive from Buffalo across the United States-Canada border is Toronto, the cultural, entertainment, and financial capital of Canada. Buffalo is also ideally located for easy access to many of America’s major cities. The Buffalo-Niagara International Airport offers direct flights to more than 20 cities, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Washington, DC, all only an hour’s flight away.

UB has played a central role in the creation of a strong, sustainable knowledge economy and thriving entrepreneurial culture that are driving Buffalo’s revitalization. Exemplified and driven by the centrally located Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, UB’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Buffalo is experiencing a period of tremendous progress and momentum as well as unprecedented regional investments in the industries of the future and in the assets that ensure a satisfying quality of life for all its citizens.

UB and the School of Architecture and Planning are vital and enthusiastic participants in Buffalo’s economic resurgence, professional and educational communities, and the dean will be a visible representative of the school and university. Within the local business community, UB has well-established ties with major partners and is also making a mark in the areas of health and life sciences, advanced manufacturing, and renewable energy. The dean will encourage and support faculty, student, and staff research, education, and engagement activities that make an impact in Buffalo and around the world.

Additional information about UB’s School of Architecture and Planning can be found at https://archplan.buffalo.edu/ or at the search website: https://www.buffalo.edu/leadership-searches/current-searches/school-of-architecture-and-planning-dean-2023.html.

Interested individuals should provide an electronic version of their curriculum vitae (Microsoft Word or PDF strongly preferred). A letter describing interest in, and qualifications for, the position is recommended, but not required. All inquiries, nominations and applications should be sent electronically via Russell Reynolds at UB.SAP@russellreynolds.com.

To ensure full consideration, materials should be received as soon as possible but no later than Monday, March 20, 2023. Review of nominations and applications for the position will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. To assure sensitivity toward the positions presently held by nominees and applicants, the search will be conducted in strict confidence until finalists participate in campus visits. References will not be contacted without the prior knowledge and approval of the candidates.

Compensation for this position is highly competitive. It is anticipated that the dean will begin service by the start of the 2023-24 academic year. Review of candidates will begin immediately and continue until a dean of the School of Architecture and Planning is appointed.

The University at Buffalo is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic university community committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment. Potential applicants who share this goal, including veterans and individuals with disabilities, are encouraged to apply.