University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: January 19, 2006

By MARY COCHRANE
Contributing Editor

State University of New York Chancellor John R. Ryan arrived at UB yesterday to speak about his vision for the university and the SUNY system, so it was especially fitting he began with a story about a temporary failure of his own eyesight.

Andrei Reinhorn (left), professor of civil engineering and director of the Ketter Hall earthquake labs, shows Chancellor John Ryan the shake table during a tour yesterday.
PHOTO: NANCY J. PARISI

Ryan recalled arriving for a job interview with then Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger without his eyeglasses. This caused him to misread the nametag of a particular general standing outside the secretary's office, who Ryan mistakenly addressed as "colonel."

Realizing he'd erred, he "looked again down at the nametag and of course it didn't say Col. Powell, it said Colin Powell," Ryan said.

"Being the great guy he is, and was at the time, he still made sure that I got the job," Ryan said. "I learned an awful lot. The first thing I did was I went out and got a pair of cheap glasses and they've served me well since then."

Ryan spoke at a public session in the Center for the Arts sponsored by UB's Faculty Senate and Professional Staff Senate during a day-long visit to UB. In addition to positive impressions of the university, he took away with him a special gift of several books authored by UB faculty members presented to him by President John B. Simpson.

Ryan sees very clearly how UB and the other SUNY schools can "maintain not just the access and affordability, but the quality" that is critical to public higher education in New York State.

"Public higher education is extremely important to this state and this country. It's why this country is what it is today," Ryan said.

He called the just-unveiled state budget "a good start" for what SUNY needs, but noted that "it's only about the third inning of a nine-inning contest.

"I've made clear that my number-one priority is we need to grow," he said. "Our community colleges have this bubble; their enrollment is up almost 30 percent over the last five years. That's an incredible amount. These young men and women need to go somewhere and many of them are eligible to come to good universities like UB. We need to make room for them. I know that's part of your plan to grow and to grow faculty. I think we are in consonance here."

The retired naval admiral, who was the first president of U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis to serve two consecutive four-year terms, said that more full-time faculty members are needed system-wide, and he expects help from New York State to make that happen.

"One of the things I've learned in leading is the best thing I can do is listen to the men and women who do it every day, so faculty are important to me, just like mechanics were important to me when I flew airplanes. They know a lot," Ryan said.

Ryan said he is encouraged by Gov. George Pataki's plan to add a distinguished faculty member to the SUNY Board of Trustees.

And he is impressed with UB's methods of putting faculty at the forefront of its UB 2020 planning process. As a former strategic planner, Ryan said he knows "the process is as important as the product," so UB is wise to solicit faculty, student and staff input from all community members in its efforts to become one of the top research institutions in the country.

"I would commend you; I think you are doing a good job balancing both continuity and change," he said. "It's always good to start with your strengths and I'm pleased to see that you, and not President Simpson and his administration, but you have identified 10 institutional strengths that are multidisciplinary in nature. You know what your strengths are and you are going to focus on those in coming years. That's smart."

He also saluted the strides UB has made in international education.

"I'm very proud that you've focused on that long before other institutions have; you've been in China for over two decades and you have a wonderfully diverse student body."

Ryan pledged to "persist" in his commitments on behalf of SUNY and UB, including keeping "tuition as reasonable as we possibly can" for SUNY's 414,000 students by asking the Legislature to help him find funding from other sources.

"It doesn't mean students shouldn't worry. It doesn't mean we might not have a tuition increase. But I think this rational tuition policy makes sense," he said. " I like the idea of saying to freshmen who are going to come here next year and maybe are going to be in a four- or five-year program 'OK, this is your bill tuition-wise for the next four or five years.' My kids went to different schools, both public and private. No president ever said that. They (tuition bills) gave me a shock every semester."