University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Kristin Stapleton, director of the Asian Studies Program, asks a question during Tuesday's meeting of the voting faculty. Photo: DOUGLAS LEVERE

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• “We’re at a tipping point with respect to our budget.”

  President John B. Simpson

By CHARLOTTE HSU

Published: November 4, 2009

Continued budget cuts may force UB to take drastic measures, such as eliminating programs, President John B. Simpson told the Faculty Senate at its Tuesday meeting.

“We’re at a tipping point with respect to our budget,” he said during his annual address to the voting faculty in the Center For Tomorrow. The $3 billion state deficit announced by Gov. David Paterson a month ago “will lead to a predictable cut in the vicinity of $13 million from (UB’s) fundamental budget,” which comes on top of $25 million in reductions the university sustained over the past two years, the president said.

So far, tactics such as leaving vacant positions open and hiring junior-level faculty members to replace departing senior-level professors have helped UB weather the financial crisis. Substantial additional cuts would force decision-makers to pursue other options, such as program elimination.

“If the budget we have to operate the university with continues to decline in major ways…we will have programmatic eliminations in the future,” Simpson said. “I see no way around that. We simply cannot do the breadth of things this university does on a budget which was too small before this started.

With faculty bringing a growing number of external research dollars to Buffalo, UB, with appropriate state funding, has the potential to play a pivotal role in driving economic development in one of the nation’s most depressed regions, the president said. He emphasized, again, how UB 2020, the university’s long-range strategic plan, would provide the tools and flexibility the institution needs to help revitalize the local economy.

With more cuts on the horizon, the university must take the initiative to advocate for itself and for Buffalo Niagara, Simpson said.

Simpson opened his talk by highlighting recent UB achievements. He expressed excitement about progress in upgrading and constructing such facilities as UB and Kaleida Health’s new global vascular institute and research building downtown.

He recognized individual faculty accomplishments, including Esther Takeuchi’s winning of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and the premiere of Elliot Caplan’s new film at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.

He also praised the faculty as a whole for continuing to excel in competing for research funding.

“Among some of the good things that are happening, you’re probably familiar with,” the president said. “The faculty continue to do extremely well in competing for extramural support for their projects. This is across the university, and it is up a surprising 30 percent in the last several years.”