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  Tripathi investiture
  Satish K. Tripathi is formally invested as UB’s 15th president. | View slideshow

  
  

  Inauguration Week wrap-up of events

  Day One events focus on celebrating excellence in education, research and service. Watch a slideshow.

  Day Two events focus on creating a vibrant, healthy community. Watch a slideshow.

  Day Three events focus on community engagement. Watch a slideshow.

  Day Four events focus on global engagement. Watch a slideshow.

By SUE WUETCHER

Published: September 26, 2011

Satish K. Tripathi was invested as UB’s 15th president on Friday with a pledge to continue the university’s pursuit of excellence and a bold plan to hire 300 new faculty members and raise $200 million in endowments for student scholarships.

Speaking before a capacity house in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts, Tripathi said that in order for UB to fully realize its potential and mission as a public research university, it must continue to grow.

“Truly, we have many reasons to be proud of our achievements and our contributions to the world around us,” he said. “And yet as good as we are, we must not rest. The people we serve—locally, across the nation and globally—need us to become even better.

“We must seek out new problems to solve, new horizons to explore and new ways to change the world for the better,” he said.

Tripathi pointed out that UB has excellent faculty, dedicated staff and outstanding students. “Indeed,” he said, “UB’s people are its greatest asset.”

But to fully realize the university’s potential and to fulfill its public mission, “we must attract even more talented people to join us here in Buffalo,” he said.

To that end, he proposed hiring 300 new faculty members over the next five years—“and to attract even more top-ranked scholars, I want 100 of those new positions to be endowed”—and raising $200 million in endowments for student scholarships.

“When we achieve all of these objectives, we will provide our students with an event better education—and we will have an even greater impact on our communities,” he said.

Tripathi noted that UB’s alumni and supporters are key to helping the university realize its full potential. To enlist their support, he said he plans to visit 20 cities over the next 20 months, as well as some international alumni chapters, to meet with alumni and “share the vision.”

UB’s 15th president challenged his audience to take part in UB’s vision to transform the university.

Citing the recent $40 million gift to the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Tripathi said it will have “a truly transforming impact on UB by helping us bring some of the best faculty in the world here to Buffalo.”

“Indeed, a stronger medical school will help us transform the quality of education and patient care,” he said, adding that the gift comes at a time when the university plans to move the medical school to the Downtown Campus as part of the next phase of UB 2020.

But the medical school move downtown is “far from the end of the story,” he said. “This is just the first layer of what we envision as a much broader revitalization for UB and the communities we serve.

“As UB builds its excellence, we will build stronger, healthier communities, here at home, across the state and around the globe.

“We will attract more of the best faculty and the brightest students, strengthening our university across the disciplines and advancing UB’s reputation as an international center of excellence in research, education and innovation,” he said.

UB has come a long way since its founding as a private medical school in 1846 and since joining the SUNY system in 1962, Tripathi said. That growth, he said, is due not only to the strength of the university, but also to the strength of its partnerships with larger communities, among them alumni and friends, SUNY, business and labor, elected officials and civic leaders, and the regional, national and international higher education community.

“Now, we must keep expanding our vision in ways that respond to the changing world around us—seeing clearly both what we are, and what we can and must become in the future,” he said.

“Today, we re-affirm our commitment to making the world a better place through our pursuit of academic excellence.

“Today, we begin the exciting work of expanding our reach, strengthening our impact, and setting our sights even higher,” he said.

“Now, more than ever, the world needs hope for the future. The world needs the very best UB can give it.

“Working together, I truly believe there is nothing beyond our reach.”

Before Tripathi delivered his inaugural remarks, numerous colleagues, officials and members of the university community offered congratulations.

Jeremy M. Jacobs, chair of the UB Council, said that world-class universities require innovative leadership—“leaders who have the ability to articulate and realize a vision that is relevant as well as transformative. We have such a leader in President Tripathi.”

During Tripathi’s tenure as provost, “UB’s impact and reach has become globally significant as the result of his leadership,” Jacobs said. “He has an impressive record of accomplishments and a compelling vision for the future. And most importantly, he has the drive to continue the university on its path to its fullest potential as a public research university.”

SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher called Tripathi a “brilliant scholar, accomplished researcher and renowned computer scientist,” noting that “remarkable strides” have been made at UB through Tripathi’s leadership as provost, with the creation of “groundbreaking approaches to collaborative instruction and research.”

UB, Zimpher said, serves as a model for rest of SUNY “on how take big ideas to scale. We grow them at great universities like UB and then take them to partners across the SUNY system.”

Tripathi, she pointed out, has been on the “front lines” crafting economic development policy and partnerships that enhance the relationships between government, business and higher education.
“We are so fortunate to have a leader of his caliber at the helm of UB,” she said.

In offering greetings on behalf of the UB faculty, Esther S. Takeuchi, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Greatbatch Professor of Advanced Power Sources in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, said she was happy to know that “the leadership of the university is in such good hands.”

She noted that some aspects of her personal life were similar to Tripathi’s. Tripathi, she said, came from humble beginnings in India, moved to the United States and has accomplished much through hard work.

Takeuchi said her parents were forced to leave their home in Latvia during World War II, lived in a displaced persons camp for several years, then moved to the U.S. with all of their belongings filling two suitcases.

“Like Dr. Tripathi, I, too, know the meaning of an American success story,” she said, adding that she feels “great personal satisfaction” to be part of the investiture.
“I believe this is a most propitious time in the history of the University of Buffalo,” she said. “The university is well-positioned to move ahead into the future. I know that with President Tripathi in the lead and all of us beside him, the university is poised to reach unprecedented heights.”

Ann Marie Landel, customer support analyst in CIT client services office and chair of the Professional Staff, said it was her honor to represent UB’s 2,500 professional staff members. “Today we look forward to a new chapter in this university’s history and to building on the university’s strong foundation of academic excellence,” she said. “The influence of President Tripathi’s leadership is evident across the landscape of this university. Because of his leadership, today this university is on a promising path toward realizing the breadth of our mission as a 21st century research university.”

JoAnna B. Datz, president of the undergraduate Student Association, said she believes that one of the priorities of a university president is to provide students with an “incredible university experience.” She said one of her favorite qualities about Tripathi is his “enthusiasm for students.”

“President Tripathi never fails to have a glowing smile on his face when surrounded by students” and “treats each student as his own, making this large university feel more like a community, even a family,” she said. “He helps us to believe in ourselves and achieve our potential and positively impact our world.”

Tripathi’s sons, Aashish and Manish, offered greetings on behalf of the president’s family and talked about the importance of education in the Tripathi family.

Aashish, a senior manager at eBay, noted that although neither his grandmother nor his great-grandmother had much formal schooling, both instilled in his father a love of and respect for education. He said that commitment to education was evident in a school for girls his father and his grandfather founded in their home village in India. Today that school continues to provide a free education for girls in that and surrounding villages, Aashish said.

Manish, a faculty member at Emory University, explained that many immediate and extended Tripathi family members have been educators. “We can trace our ancestry back for hundreds of years and in every generation there have been family members who have served as educators,” he said. “I often joke that education is our family business.”

The investiture ceremony opened with graduate and undergraduate students carrying flags representing the UB schools, in order of founding. They were followed by international students carrying the flags of UB’s exchange partners; delegates from international and U.S. colleges and universities, and SUNY institutions; and representatives of learned societies, foundations and professional organizations.

Presidents from various UB alumni associations also were part of the procession, as well as members of the staff, faculty and platform party.