Inauguration Week to Celebrate UB's Past, Present and Future

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A colorful ceremony rich in tradition and pageantry will mark the formal investiture of Satish K. Tripathi as the University at Buffalo's 15th president at 3 p.m. Sept. 23 in the Center of the Arts on the UB North Campus. The ceremony will be followed by a public reception in the center's atrium.

The investiture of Tripathi will be part of a larger Inauguration Week, a university-wide celebration from Sept. 19-24 that will honor the university's proud past while celebrating its extraordinary present and vast potential for the future. It will include a SUNY Distinguished Professors colloquium, international symposium and a speech by a former U.S. secretary of defense, as well as an outdoor concert on the lawn of UB's South Campus, a global fair and homecoming tailgate parties and football game.

The events are open to the public; most of them are free. Complete information is available on the Inauguration Week website: http://www.buffalo.edu/inauguration.

The theme of the celebration is "Local Impact, Global Reach," underscoring the fact that the work of UB scholars, researchers and educators changes the world for the better. The celebration also will reaffirm UB's commitment to contributing to the greater public good through its pursuit of academic excellence, a foundation on which it continues to expand its reach, strengthen its impact and set its sights even higher for the future.

Each day of the week-long inaugural calendar will focus on a key theme. On Sept. 19, the theme will be "Celebrating Excellence in Research, Education and Service" and the university will host three events.

The first, at 10:30 a.m., will be a SUNY Distinguished Professors Colloquium, "The Mission of Public Research Universities in the 21st Century," to be held in the Black Box Theatre, Center for the Arts. The keynote speaker will be former SUNY Chancellor D. Bruce Johnstone, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and University Professor Emeritus at UB.

Student excellence and engagement will be celebrated at 1 p.m. in the Center for the Arts and the Student Union. At 3:30 p.m. in the Center for the Arts, the focus will be on faculty and staff academic excellence. Recently named SUNY Distinguished Professors, Chancellor's Award winners and UB Distinguished Professors will be among those honored during the program.

"Creating a Vibrant and Healthy Community" will be the theme on Sept. 20, and at 5:30 p.m. that day UB will co-sponsor a community public forum, "Economic Development and the Food System: Ideas for the Future," at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum, 453 Porter Ave., Buffalo, as part of the larger Buffalo Food Policy Summit. The forum will feature experts in the field of food security and food justice in a discussion of how the pursuit of these goals can provoke economic development in Buffalo, as it has in communities across the country.

On Sept. 21, the theme will be "Engaged in Our Community" and it will feature another inaugural week event associated with the Buffalo Food Policy Summit.

The summit's Research Roundtable, "Rebuilding Community Food Systems: Opportunities for Multidisciplinary Research," will take place at 2:30 p.m. in 105 Harriman Hall, South Campus. It will feature interdisciplinary researchers in a discussion of scholarship and research on the food system. Speakers will include Samina Raja, UB School of Architecture and Planning; Leonard Epstein, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and geographer Sara Metcalf, UB College of Arts and Sciences.

Also on Sept. 21, the Office of Community Relations will host "UB on the Green," a free outdoor, family-friendly festival of music, dance and fun to celebrate summer in the neighborhood of UB's South Campus. It will run from 6-8 p.m. on the Hayes Hall lawn. Refreshments will be sold and the public is invited to picnic on the lawn and enjoy performances by UB's stunning Genkin Philharmonic, a 10-piece electro-acoustic chamber ensemble, and by the Buffalo Chips, UB's national award-winning men's a cappella group. Hands-on art activities, demonstrations and workshops will be the order of the day.

At 8 p.m. on Sept. 21, the Distinguished Speakers Series will present a talk by former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Robert Gates in Alumni Arena, North Campus. Gates, former president of Texas A&M University, served as secretary of defense under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and has served in other capacities under a total of eight American presidents. This is a ticketed event, open to the public. Ticket information is available on the Distinguished Speakers Series website: http://www.student-affairs.buffalo.edu/special/distinguishedspeakers.shtml.

UB President Satish K. Tripathi is an internationally recognized researcher in the field of computer science and on Sept. 22, a day whose inaugural theme is "Engaging Our World," UB will honor his expertise with an International Symposium on Computer Systems Research.

It will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 330 Student Union, North Campus, and feature a discussion of Tripathi's work and presentations by many of his colleagues in computer science and engineering from several distinguished institutions. The symposium, sponsored by the Office of International Education and hosted by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, will be free and open to the public.

Sept. 22 also is the day of the "UB Global Fair," to be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Center for the Arts. Performances by members of UB's international student clubs will take place between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Foods and beverages unique to many nations will be available from noon to 2 p.m., during which time UB faculty members will make presentations on the global impact of their research, education and service.

The final inaugural event on Sept. 22 will be the a free lecture, "Talking Back to Your Intelligent Cities," by Dutch sociologist Saskia Sassen at 4 p.m. in the Screening Room, Center for the Arts. The lecture will be part of the UB Humanities Institute's Fluid Culture Series.

"Fluid Culture" is a year-long series of events designed to question the relationship between culture and ecology. Sassen, who coined the term "global city," is noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics.

Sept. 24, the final day of Inauguration Week, is homecoming day and, appropriately enough, the day's theme is "Welcome Home," with events offering alumni an opportunity to connect with friends, family and current students.

Students, alumni, faculty, staff and the public are welcome to attend homecoming tailgate parties that will be held beginning at 3 p.m., as part of True Blue Days in the Special Event Lot, North Campus.

At 3:30 p.m., President Satish K. Tripathi will join the UB football team for the "Walk to Victory," starting at the bronze Buffalo in Coventry Circle, in front of the Center for the Arts.

The UB Bulls will take on the University of Connecticut Huskies in a homecoming football game at 6 p.m. in UB Stadium, North Campus. This is a ticketed event.

Not enough for you?

Throughout inaugural week and beyond, several exhibitions will take place in the UB Galleries -- all free of charge and open to the public. The hours for the UB Anderson Gallery, 1 Martha Jackson Place, Buffalo, are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 1-5 p.m. on Sunday. The UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The exhibitions:

-- "Visual Epistemologies," UB Anderson Gallery, will consider the question of how it is that we come to know and understand the world. It will open with a free, public reception at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 and run through Oct. 23. The exhibit will feature an intriguing and provocative selection of recent, largely visual productions by 19 members of the Department of Visual Studies' studio faculty.

-- "Horseplay," also at the UB Anderson Gallery, will open Sept. 8 with a free public reception at 5 p.m. and run through Oct. 22. This playful exhibition will feature work by 11 alumni of UB's Visual Studies master of fine arts program. Using the tropes of GPS technology and "Gulliver's Travels," guest curator Bill Maynes of New York City's Bill Maynes Gallery will introduce art works produced in different styles, methods and materials, all of which raise contemporary philosophical issues and political points of view.

-- "Saigon Diary," a 12-channel, mixed-media installation by Dinh Q. Le, a Vietnamese artist best known for his woven-photographs, will receive its world premiere at the UB Anderson Gallery Sept. 17 through Dec. 31. The exhibition will be free and open to the public, as will its opening reception from 6-8 pm. on Sept. 17. The exhibition is an incisive commentary on the radical changes taking place in Vietnam as it moves from a socialist to a capitalist economy, a process that has provoked the birth of a new generation of consumers and their attendant waste.

-- "Buffalo Beijing Translation" is a unique collaborative exhibition that will open at 5 p.m. Sept. 16 in the UB Art Gallery and continue through Oct. 22. The exhibition, being held in conjunction with the New York Conference on Asian Studies 2011, will present artwork produced collectively as part of an ongoing exchange program involving UB's Visual Studies MFA students and advanced students at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. The exhibition later will be presented at the Today Art Museum in Beijing, and also will result in a publication charting the complex process of cross-cultural collaboration.

In addition, the UB Libraries will mount two special exhibitions to mark the investiture.

"Anniversaries & Celebrations" features historic photographs, illustrations and artifacts from previous UB presidential inaugurations and other university celebrations. The exhibit draws on materials from the collections of the University Archives, highlighting the many inaugural traditions that are part of the university's long and distinguished history. Historic photographs, illustrations and artifacts from previous UB presidential inaugurations and university celebrations recall and honor the 14 individuals who preceded President Tripathi.

The exhibition will be on view in Special Collections, 420 Capen Hall, North Campus, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, from Sept. 6 through Sept. 22 and Sept. 26 and 27. On Sept. 23 and Sept. 24, hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., respectively.

"165 Years of Leadership" features portraits of the 14 chancellors and presidents who preceded Tripathi. Panels for each president or chancellor incorporate the seal of the university during the individual's time in office, as well as text noting the president or chancellor's contributions to the university.

The exhibition will be on view Sept. 19-25 in the atrium of the Center for the Arts.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.