Tripathi cites UB’s progress, achievements and evolution in annual address

Reviewing a year celebrating record enrollments, multimillion-dollar grants, faculty awards and national rankings that have never been higher, Satish K. Tripathi told faculty, alumni and members of the UB community, “Seven years after my first address, I stand before you today so excited to see how much we have achieved.”

UB’s president went on to say, during his State of the University address, “Together, we strategically defined our institutional priorities for the purpose of having an ever-greater impact on the world.”

Speaking on Friday in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall on the North Campus, Tripathi said, “From our founding as a private medical college 172 years ago, to our growth into a public research university of 30,000 students from across the U.S. and more than 100 countries around the world, we have always kept a clear-eyed gaze on our mission.

“Our UB2020 strategic plan has been our concerted effort to move closer to fulfilling our mission,” he said.

“When we conceived UB2020, it was never about a fixed point in time. Rather, it was about the bold pursuit of academic excellence, research excellence and creating the supporting infrastructure for our institutional priorities,” Tripathi told the audience.

“Just last month, we received the great news that UB achieved its highest ranking ever among the nation’s best public universities, at number 38,” he said. “In the category of the nation’s best public and private universities we have risen 32 spots in just 11 years.”

Tripathi told the audience awards and honors acknowledge that UB faculty are taking on bold challenges and pressing problems, and succeeding in these endeavors by questioning the status quo, exploring issues from previously unconsidered angles and by sheer persistence.

“Our faculty received prestigious awards from the Modern Language Association, American Educational Research Association, National Endowment for the Humanities and National Science Foundation, which recognized five junior faculty with CAREER awards for their exemplary role as teacher-scholars.

“As a result, their scholarship and research are changing the way we think about the world, while improving the way we live our lives,” he stated.

Tripathi pointed to faculty research that, in the past academic year, has resulted in new algorithms to help robots make sense of the environment; a new understanding of when schizophrenia develops, and a new theory on the disease; a novel way to channel the power of the sun to purify water and futuristic technology to eradicate cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.

“Over the last year,” he said, “UB has been awarded major, multi-million dollar grants in addiction science, geography, medicine, education and physics. And this is by no means an exhaustive list.”

Tripathi said UB students distinguished themselves with fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, National Science Foundation, the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, as well as Critical Language Scholarships from the U.S. State Department.

Tripathi's remarks also addressed efforts to increase stipends for PhD students within academic departments. A group of graduate students attended the speech to protest what they feel are low stipend levels in English and other academic departments.

“In order to attract the finest students, our academic departments have implemented a multi-year process to increase graduate stipends that are not nationally competitive,” Tripathi said. “And our academic departments are making progress because, in the end, we want to ensure that our academic departments are among the very best in the nation, and that our graduate students have every opportunity to succeed in their scholarly pursuits.”

Tripathi stated that to ensure UB students are learning in the most productive atmosphere, and UB faculty enjoy the very best facilities for their research and creative work, the university’s buildings, classrooms, laboratories, libraries and studios must foster an inspiring learning environment.

“To that end, last December, we opened the doors of the new, downtown home of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences,” he said.

Tripathi told the audience that being in the heart of our region’s biosciences corridor brings students, researchers and clinicians together into a collaborative ecosystem.

“It is our strategic intent to make UB, and Buffalo, a world-class destination for medical education, research and clinical care,” he said.

“This goal aligns with our fundamental commitment to enhance the quality of life for people in our community — and beyond.

“Service — as a value and as a practice — forms our identity as a public research university,” said Tripathi. “It is critical to our mission — every bit as important as education and research. Across disciplines and decanal units, it permeates both of those endeavors.”

Tripathi told the audience service means many things at UB.

“It means improving student performance at under-performing Buffalo Public Schools, and improving affordable housing for underserved Buffalo neighborhoods,” he said.

“It means providing legal aid to Hurricane victims in Puerto Rico and providing health care services to rural villagers in Haiti. And it means our faculty, staff and students mobilizing to complete impactful projects during Day of Caring, our region’s largest community service event,” Tripathi told the audience.

Tripathi said UB has always leveraged intellect and creativity for a larger purpose — and will continue to apply the university’s knowledge and innovations for the public good.

Tripathi told the audience he believes the biggest challenge UB faces is the lack of sufficient resources to pursue all of the university’s priorities and opportunities.

“Of course, you could ask university presidents across the country to identify their biggest challenge. The answer, invariably, would be the same as mine,” he said.

“For over a decade, UB has incurred major cuts to our state operating budget while, at the same time, we have incurred multimillion dollar mandated budgetary expenditures.

“This has significantly strained our financial resources,” said Tripathi, “In spite of these challenges, we have a public mandate to move forward.”

Citing UB’s ambitions, Tripathi stated, “We have always been driven to be bold — to boldly imagine and to boldly realize UB’s brightest future.

“Boldly Buffalo, as the largest campaign in UB’s history, will ensure that we continue to take the lead in building a future of discovery, innovation and impact,” he said. “In fact, since the quiet phase of the campaign began, donors have supported 226 endowed scholarships and fellowships and 25 endowed chairs and professorships.”

Tripathi said UB’s sights are very clearly —and strategically — set on forward-thinking priorities.

Beyond continuing to elevate the national reputation of academic departments and programs, he said, UB will enhance the university’s national research prominence and success, and create a more robust living-learning environment by realizing UB’s campus master plan.

“With regard to our living-learning environment: More and more of our students are telling us that they would like to live on campus,” said Tripathi.

“And we know our students perform better academically when they do, are more likely to complete their education at UB and are more likely to graduate on time.

“So, we are studying building new residential housing,” Tripathi said. “We believe that by further integrating our students into the fabric of our UB community, their UB experience will be equally enhanced.”

Discussing the implementation of UB’s master plan, Tripathi told the audience, “From the renovation of Hayes Hall, to the redesign of Silverman Library, from the opening of Greiner Hall, and the new building for the Jacobs School, to the soon-to-be-opened Murchie Family Fieldhouse, we are innovating in our built environment so we can build up every aspect of UB, from athletics to academics.”

A key in achieving the plan’s vision, he noted, is to complete Heart of the Campus, the university’s multi-year initiative to impact UB students’ experience in a lasting manner.

“So we are moving forward with the building of One World Café to meet the demand for expanded dining facilities while celebrating UB for the diverse and global community it is,” said Tripathi, adding: “The move of the Jacobs School downtown gives us the opportunity to re-envision our historic South Campus as the academic hub for our professional schools.

“In keeping with our master plan, these moves also will create more space on our North

Campus and lend a distinctly 21st century identity to the South Campus, while preserving its historic grandeur.”

As he concluded his remarks, Tripathi said, “As a diverse, inclusive, international scholarly community, we are bringing the benefits of our research, our scholarship and our creative activities to communities near and far.

“And thanks to all of you, we are providing our students with the finest education, and we are creating an environment that upholds their aspirations.”