Published May 25, 2011 This content is archived.
Earlier today, we had the opportunity to present our university’s proposal in response to the NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant program, a new initiative introduced by Governor Cuomo and Chancellor Zimpher that gives UB and the other three SUNY University Centers an opportunity to propose projects that strengthen our university academic programs and support economic vitality in our communities.
UB presented our plan for implementing the next phase of UB 2020 to Governor Cuomo, Lt. Governor Duffy, Speaker Silver, Majority Leader Skelos, Chancellor Zimpher, Assemblymember Glick, Senator LaValle, Assemblyman Schimminger, Senator Grisanti, and members of the Governor’s staff.
UB’s proposal for implementing UB 2020’s next phase focuses on two equally important and vitally interconnected investments—an investment in faculty and in the staff who support our educational and research missions, and an investment in our campus environment and facilities. Specifically, UB’s NYSUNY 2020 application describes UB’s plans to build our faculty, and to co-locate the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences with key partners in Buffalo’s medical corridor downtown.
I am pleased to report that our proposal was very well received and generated a great deal of energy and excitement. Governor Cuomo called UB’s proposal “the model my Administration will seek to replicate across the state,” and said, “I wholeheartedly support it and will do everything I can to see that it becomes a reality.”
As Governor Cuomo and others commented, one of the great strengths of the UB 2020 proposal is the broad-based, far-reaching support this initiative has garnered from the university community and across the region and state, from elected officials and community leaders to business and labor and other key community stakeholders. I am very encouraged by the strong support the Governor has voiced for UB 2020, and for the continued support and advocacy of Chancellor Zimpher, our Western New York delegation, and community leaders like Mayor Brown, Jeremy Jacobs, and Robert Brady, who all spoke passionately about the vital importance of this initiative to fulfill UB’s great potential, and to realize its full promise to create a bright future for our region and state.
I look forward to our continued work together to advance this initiative—and to realize its full impact—as we pursue our long-range vision to move UB into the highest ranks of the nation’s leading public research universities.
Sincerely,
President
