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Tripathi urges state to invest in UB
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“Investing in SUNY, investing in our public research universities can provide the critical foundation for a diversified New York State economy.”
Investing in UB and other SUNY institutions is the key to diversifying New York State’s economy and keeping pace with other U.S. and international universities, Provost Satish K. Tripathi told members of the SUNY Board of Trustees on Tuesday.
Speaking at a public hearing called by the trustees to gather information from SUNY stakeholders on the current fiscal crisis, Tripathi noted that countries such as India and Singapore are investing in higher education because “they recognize the critical role that higher education assumes in their nation’s economic stability and their nation’s economic future.”
“If we fail to acknowledge that higher education is the key to our region’s and state’s economic prosperity, and therefore fail to invest in SUNY and our research universities, the Buffalo region and New York State will be in the untenable position of being a generation behind our state peers and our global competitors,” he said.
Divesting in SUNY “will only prolong and deepen the economic crisis facing the Buffalo region and New York State.” he said.
UB, he said, is facing a $21 million permanent budget cut that the university is dealing with by implementing a strategic financial plan. But, he said, further cuts will negatively affect UB’s ability to recruit and retain world-class faculty, attract the best and brightest students, and serve as an economic engine for the region and state.
The current fiscal crisis demonstrates that New York needs to diversify its economy, which Tripathi said, can be achieved by building a workforce “that is prepared to contribute to a knowledge-based economy and by building a research infrastructure that will bring innovation to the marketplace.”
“Without the state’s commitment to investing in SUNY and our research universities, New York State will lack the workforce and the intellectual capital necessary to conduct translational research, thereby losing many opportunities to bring technological and clinical innovations to the marketplace,” he explained.
“Investing in SUNY, investing in our public research universities can provide the critical foundation for a diversified New York State economy.”
Tripathi noted that the UB 2020 strategic plan—“UB’s plan for the future”—can provide the foundation for building a robust regional and state economy. A key element of that plan would involve relocating UB’s Academic Health Center downtown, he said, making the Downtown Campus a center for bio-tech innovation, clinical research, patient care and clinician training; more than 13,000 faculty, staff and students would work and learn in downtown Buffalo.
The Academic Health Center—a consortium of the five health sciences schools: medicine and biomedical sciences, dental medicine, nursing, public health and health professions, and pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences—currently has units located on both the North and South campuses.
Tripathi pointed out that the City of Buffalo is the third most impoverished city in the country. The plan to move the Academic Health Center downtown “is crucial if we want to reverse this shamefully stark reality.”
“When fully implemented, UB 2020 can be instrumental in providing a brighter future for City of Buffalo citizenry and our entire Western New York region in the form of new jobs, workforce development and job retention,” he said. “UB 2020 will be the critical force in transitioning Western New York’s manufacturing economy to a 21st century innovation economy. “
Tripathi said long-term investment and support by the state is crucial for UB and other SUNY institutions to fulfill their potential and maximize their impact on regional and state economies.
“We must find a way to invest in our future—today,” he concluded.
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