University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: May 4, 2006

By ARTHUR PAGE
Assistant Vice President

In July 2004, President John B. Simpson and Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Satish K. Tripathi began to engage the university community in a process to redefine the ways in which UB approaches research and scholarly activities with the ultimate goal of understanding and resolving the critical issues of the 21st century.

That process has produced the first of many collaborative plans to come to invest in strategic strengths identified in the UB 2020 strategic planning process.

"A strategic investment is a small part of a much bigger plan," Tripathi said in an interview with the Reporter. "To be highly successful, that plan must focus on our faculty, identify our competitive advantages and make investments whose benefits transcend disciplinary boundaries."

Simpson and Tripathi announced last week that the university is moving ahead with implementation of the Integrated Nanostructured Systems (INS) strategic strength proposal, which includes the hiring of 29 new faculty members. Five of these scholars joined the faculty last fall; the remaining 24 will be hired over the next three years with salaries paid for by a combination of school-based and centrally managed resources.

"The foundational work of the Academic Planning and Academic Support Planning committees, the bringing together of various groups of faculty, and the establishment of compelling visions within each strength area have all marked significant milestones in this process," Tripathi said.

"With the submission of this first plan for INS, we cross another milestone: the ability to focus investments from our decanal units, the central administration and external sources."

Tripathi noted that he is reviewing the recommendations of the coordinating committees and faculty advisory committees for four strengths: Artistic Expression and Performing Arts; Bioinformatics and Health Sciences; Cultural, Historical, Literary and Textual Studies; and Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems.

"The Civic Engagement and Public Policy, Extreme Events: Mitigation and Response, and Information and Computing Technology strengths are expected to move into the implementation phase by the end of the summer."

While the planning process "is fluid," Tripathi said he is anxious for all the strengths to complete the articulation of a vision and translate it into a set of recommendations for investment. Beyond serving as a mechanism for bringing together multidisciplinary groups of scholars, Tripathi said that the visions for the strategic strengths "focus on critical societal issues."

"Investing in the development of the strengths creates opportunities for UB to become even more distinguished as an institution and to connect in new and meaningful ways with the various publics we serve.

"Our progress is exciting," Tripathi said. He noted that the process of developing visions for the strengths has brought together faculty from different disciplines; many of them are planning or working on projects together only months after meeting for the first time. Faculty members have gained insights into schools and programs other than their own.

As an example of new conversations that are occurring, Tripathi notes: "It is exciting that we have doctors and engineers in the same room, talking together about critical issues that affect our society and cross several disciplinary boundaries.

"By my estimate," he added, "more than half of UB's faculty have participated in strategic strengths planning in one form or another. Only through meaningful and dedicated faculty participation can this process truly succeed. And I believe this is exactly what we are experiencing.

"The leadership groups for the Bioinformatics and Health Sciences and Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems strategic strengths are working closely to identify synergies across the two strengths," Tripathi said. "This type of coordination resonates with our goals to advance science and invest in and develop our capabilities and research efforts. They are recognizing that there are many similarities in the types of faculty that they need, and the infrastructure that they require."

Will there come a time when work on the strategic strengths initiative is "done?"

"Our research and creative efforts are organic in nature, and this process should be organic as well," Tripathi said. "We want to be systematic and deliberate in our efforts, we should not be seeking stasis."

Tripathi and Simpson have identified checkpoints and milestones at which, Tripathi said, the vision for each strength may be adjusted based on the current realities and perceptions of the future. "As with the original articulation of the vision," he said, "these adjustments will rely heavily on the members of our community who best understand where we need to go—our faculty."