Published April 12, 2013 This content is archived.
Dear UB Faculty and Staff:
The campus response to the first Realizing UB 2020 document has been extraordinary. There have been 2,834 unique visitors to the website, 24,500 page views of which 18,000 were unique page views and 300 written messages recorded on the site. The Campus Advisory Committee and the Faculty Liaison Committee organized 45 feedback sessions attended by over 1,500 faculty, staff and students. Multiple open forums were held with hundreds of people in attendance. The feedback received has been very helpful and ranged from a detailed commentary about the theme concept to the need to emphasize the importance of key infrastructures to the importance of engaging our alumni. You have asked that the presentation of the material be simplified and focused more on the needs of our graduate students. You have offered comments about building a more profound sense of pride within our community.
This new draft responds to your feedback and provides additional material promised in December. After much discussion, we determined that this document should express the strategic direction of the university. These directions are enduring and speak to important long term aspirations that we should strive to achieve. Plans for how these directions will be implemented will be offered in subsequent communications. Approaches to implementation are necessarily responsive to the realities we face at given points in time. The document presented here has evolved from one imagined as a description of strategic approach and implementation to one that describes the roadmap for our future where specifics of implementation will be developed and actualized in the months ahead.
As you read, please remember that this statement is still a work in progress. Please read the document carefully, attend an Open Forum and share your feedback. I am particularly interested in your thoughts about the themes we have identified for further development; the core educational outcomes we are proposing that all UB degree programs will achieve; the new degree program requirements we are asking every student to fulfill; the concepts we are sharing with regard to the building of faculty strength; and your thoughts about engagement in the years ahead.
By May 15, we will publish a condensed version of the statement of institutional direction that will capture our key strategic priorities shaped by your comments and opinions. In the months that follow, I will ask the deans and vice presidents to align their plans with the principles and directions articulated in the final document. We will also put in place the processes that bring units together as necessary to implement the larger initiatives requiring collaboration across the organization.
Thank you for your continued interest in this process and for contributing in a significant way to the overall success of our Realizing UB 2020 initiative.
Best,
Charles F. Zukoski
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs