Delivered April 13, 2016 This content is archived.
Greetings!
It is an honor to join you for this commencement celebration of the Academic Leadership Institute.
I want to begin by congratulating all the participants we honor today.
Your leadership and commitment are a source of inspiration to our broader educational community, and I thank you for all that you have contributed—and will contribute in the future—for the benefit of the academy at large.
As active leaders in the academic community already, you certainly are not typical graduates. So don’t worry—I will save my long commencement speech for the UB Class of 2016 next month!
All the same, this is a commencement ceremony, and it’s customary for commencement speakers to offer some words of wisdom to graduates. In that spirit, speaking as a veteran higher education leader to the academic leaders who will shape our future, I would like to share three principles of leadership I have learned and lived by in my own administrative career. I hope they will serve you well, as they have served me.
Here is how I would sum up these three core principles:
These three simple ideas are the cornerstone of my leadership philosophy—personally, academically, and professionally. Let me say a bit more about what I mean by these ideas, and how I came by them. I will start with the first principle: Set long-term ambitions, but always be ready to change course.
From a young age, I was encouraged to set high expectations for myself. My experience has taught me that it is equally important not to be limited by one’s own aspirations. Having a clear and strong sense of direction is enormously important, of course. But it is also necessary to build a certain amount of flexibility into one’s planning process. This mindset has given me the flexibility to recognize and pursue new opportunities when they present themselves—whether it’s an emerging new field like computer science, opportunities on a new continent, or an exciting chance to lead a major university at a pivotal period in its development.
I know that many of you, also, have set a very ambitious course for your professional success, and that many of you are well on your way down this path in your own academic careers. I applaud your bold ambitions, and your initiative in pursuing them. At the same time, I would caution you not to be so fixed in your intentions that you close new doors before they open. It is critical to cultivate a degree of intellectual nimbleness—so that you are ready to seize a new opportunity when it comes along, and so you are ready to create your own opportunities.
I come from a long line of educators, and like many of you, I have been focused on education for most of my life. I knew I wanted to lead and contribute in the area of education from a very young age—following in the footsteps of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. But I never would have envisioned that one day I would have the opportunity to lead a major American research university.
As a young person, I hoped, through hard work and perseverance, that I might one day become a high school principal, following in my father’s footsteps. And I would have taken great pride in that achievement. But other opportunities presented themselves along the way, and I am grateful that I had the foresight to recognize and pursue them.
I am a computer scientist by training. But I didn’t originally set out to become a computer scientist. The computer science field itself was really in its infancy at the start of my academic career, and that continued to be the case as I first became interested in this discipline. In fact, as an undergraduate, where I elected to study on a physics, mathematics, and statistics curricular track, I had virtually no knowledge of the computer science field. What I did gain as a university student was the opportunity to engage with many brilliant and energized young students as well as incredibly generous mentors working at the cutting edge of their fields.
Those opportunities played a tremendously important role in setting the stage for my personal, scholarly, and professional growth. And if I had not embraced these new perspectives—if I had not recognized them as the opportunities they were—I never would have achieved what I have done.
That brings me to my second principle: Be self-reliant—but always seek out the opportunity to learn from and with others.
From my earliest days as a student, to my daily interactions with UB faculty, students, and staff today, the opportunity to exchange ideas with others has been a constant source of inspiration for me. As President, I am always finding new things to learn from the scholars, faculty and students around me. The same is true of my colleagues across the region’s higher education community, and I am sure you have found that to be true for yourselves.
Western New York is rich in the number, quality, and range of higher education institutions in our region. We have distinctive missions, based on the differing constituencies of the students we serve. But we all share a common vision for advancing educational excellence and opportunity, and for enriching the communities we serve through our academic contributions.
As you know so well, dialogue and collaboration across the regional higher education community are critical to our shared success. As participants in the Academic Leadership Institute, you have lived these principles actively by exchanging ideas with colleagues at different institutions and considering challenges through new vantage points. These collaborations won’t end with your graduation from this program—they are just beginning. And I encourage you to continue to seek out the colleagues you have met here to share ideas and expertise with each other.
My experience in higher education has taught me that the truly big ideas and important discoveries take place at the intersection of many fields. They involve many minds working together, and many points of view approaching the same problem from different angles. No matter how brilliant your idea, be sure to test it against other theories, and look at it through other vantage points. It will almost certainly be even stronger for that.
Of course, being willing to step outside of your own perspective, and opening your work up to the criticism and inquiry of others require a certain amount of risk. But there is no growth without risk.
And this is the basis of the third and final principle I’d like to share with you today: Plan strategically and carefully—but always be willing to take risks. Risk-taking—that is, risk informed by experience and insight—is the basis of academic and professional success. As the old saying goes, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
I took a risk in the 1970s when I ventured outside of the established field of statistics to explore computer science—at a time when only a handful of scholars were working in this field. I could not have predicted with certainty that this risk would pay off. But the knowledge I had already gained, thanks to the insights of my faculty mentors, had prepared me to take this risk with confidence.
I took another risk when I left India to continue my graduate studies in Canada. And a few years later, I ventured into the unknown again when I accepted a faculty position at the University of Maryland. Over the next 20 years, my colleagues and I built UMD’s computer science department into one of the best of its kind in the United States and an international leader in the field. In many ways, it was a golden age for computer science, and we were helping shape the field at a very exciting time.
So when I was presented with the opportunity to move across the United States to become Dean of the new Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California—Riverside, this was by no means an easy decision to make. My family and I were leaving a position of great stability for an unknown situation thousands of miles away. We had no way of knowing if this risk would pay off. But our previous experience gave us confidence to undertake this new challenge, and I am tremendously glad we did.
Six years after arriving in California, a new opportunity arose at the University at Buffalo. And while we were very happy in California, my wife Kamlesh and I recognized this as a great and life-changing opportunity. So I became Provost at the University at Buffalo. And seven years later, I was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime—to become President of the University at Buffalo.
I’ve had the honor of serving as President for five years now. And I am very pleased to tell you that every day, new opportunities present themselves. That is not just chance. Our university is reaping the benefits of these opportunities now because we had the foresight to map out a strategic plan for our institution. That plan continues to guide us today. It has proven very successful because it is characterized by all the principles I’ve laid out here today:
Now these plans are coming to fruition—and giving rise to new opportunities and bold ventures. I use this example to illustrate how the world opens up when we are prepared to seize new opportunities.
Of course, there is no magic formula for success. Following the advice of others—no matter how wise or well-intentioned—can only take us so far. You will chart your own course forward, building on the considerable expertise you have already amassed in your field, as well as the knowledge and perspective you have gained through your participation in this program and other opportunities.
You are the kind of academic leaders our world needs in the 21st century. And you are ready to make a profound difference as academic leaders who will shape education in the 21st century here in Western New York and around the world. This is a very exciting time for Buffalo and Western New York, bringing many opportunities to help solve the nation’s most pressing problems and build its promising future. As academic leaders, you will play a key leadership role in creating this future.
Thank you for all that you contribute to our Western New York educational community.
Congratulations on your achievements, and all best wishes for much continued success!
