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UB 2020 is helping to make SUNY’s case
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
The UB 2020 strategic planning process is helping SUNY make a compelling case that public higher education is key to the future of New York State, Chancellor John R. Ryan told members of the UB Council on Monday.
Making his second trip to Buffalo within a week—Ryan was at UB on Sept. 19 for the Distinguished Speakers Series lecture by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama—the chancellor met with council members at the invitation of chair Jeremy M. Jacobs. The meeting took place in UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences. Ryan toured the center after the meeting.
"SUNY is one of the best things this state has going for it, particularly the upstate region," Ryan told those attending the council meeting. He noted that as a public institution, the heart of SUNY's mission "is to be affordable, accessible, to make our diplomas and our graduate and undergraduate degrees attainable, but at the same time not sacrifice quality. I see you doing all these things at UB; I'm very proud of what you're doing," he said.
He pointed out that both candidates for governor—Democrat Eliot Spitzer and Republican John Faso—estimate that New York has a $6 billion deficit. Both candidates promise to spend $6 billion on secondary education and between $4 billion and $6 billion in property tax relief, he continued.
"Where does this leave us?" Ryan asked. "This leaves us needing to make a compelling case as to why public higher education, and higher education in general, is the key to the future of New York. I think you understand that.
"I anticipate there will be some challenges for us. We're going to have to make a compelling case [to the next governor and legislature], and I think things like UB 2020 help us enormously."
SUNY needs to lobby nationally for an increase in Pell grants, as well as index the state Tuition Assistance Program, he said. Moreover, SUNY needs a rational tuition policy—in which tuition increases by a modest amount on a regular basis—he added.
"The good news is that both candidates for governor have endorsed the rational tuition policy," he said. "I think the fact that both parties now are talking about it gives us an enormous opportunity to put this 'over the hump', so to speak."
With increased Pell grants and TAP to balance "modest" SUNY tuition increases, "we're not forgetting those disadvantaged students who we still want to come to great universities like UB," the chancellor said.
SUNY also needs to hire more full-time faculty, Ryan said, noting he's "delighted" to hear UB is using money from the 2006-07 state budget to hire more faculty members. "You won't be the UB 2020 university you want to be without this human capital you're hiring."
Faculty members are at the core of a university, he said, adding that while administrators come and go, "these men and women are the ones who give their lifetimes to the university."
He also noted that SUNY has proposed growing its enrollment, which is a key part of UB 2020.
"Everything you've talked about in 2020 is aligned with what we're trying to talk about," he said.
Ryan also promoted the idea of "strategic differentiation."
"All of our 64 campuses don't need to be the same; all our research universities don't need to be the same. We need to focus, just as you're doing in 2020, on our strengths."
He said he was particularly pleased to learn that UB faculty identified the areas of strength outlined in UB 2020.
"It tells us that we're focusing on the areas...where the real opportunities are. We're not trying to solve problems; we're trying to create opportunities. I couldn't be more excited. That's the best part about UB 2020."
Ryan also praised the UB 2020 focus on interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
"That is the future of research—it's collaboration, it's interdisciplinary collaboration in particular. It leads to more informed decisions and it's far more efficient than trying to put up walls and have a few really smart people work on one focused area. We've been talking about this in Albany for years, and I'm thrilled to see it's actually taking place here—and has been for a couple of years—at UB."
In his remarks to the council, President John B. Simpson offered an update on UB 2020, noting the process "is going well; things are happening and the university is on the move."
He said that UB plans to hire more than 30 faculty members in the next three years related to the strategic strengths of bioinformatics and molecular recognition, and hopes to eventually have more than 500 scientists working in the Center of Excellence building on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
Most new faculty positions are not being identified by the provost's office, but by deans "specifically with the focus of the strategic strength in mind," Simpson said, noting that one of the hiring criteria is to identify candidates who are collaborative and not aligned to any historically defined discipline.
"This is not something I'm used to thinking about in universities. It's not something that particularly happens—it never happened at the University at Washington," he said. We, though, are on the move and doing the kinds of things that put us in very good stead with the future" of academia, particularly with funding agencies.
He noted that UB has placed full-page ads in the prominent journals Science and Nature to recruit scientists for the molecular recognition and bioinformatics positions.
Simpson said last week's visit to UB by the Dalai Lama provided members of the UB community with "a striking educational opportunity," and also allowed for participation by the broader Western New York community.
"Many people came to campus who had never set foot on it, and they walked away with a better understanding of what the university is, what kinds of things happen here and what the possibilities are," he said.
He said the visit also should benefit the university's reputation. "This, in the long run, aside from the memories, will affect the university perhaps in the quality for students we see apply."
In other business, Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, reported on continuing efforts by UB to enhance student recruitment, increase retention and foster academic success. He pointed to plans to expand the University Honors Program, institute more faculty-led freshman seminars focused on the UB 2020 strategic strengths, expand undergraduate research opportunities and offer more living and learning communities and service learning and volunteerism opportunities.
He also reported on faculty hiring plans, noting that 109 new faculty members were hired for the fall semester, with more than half of the recruitments being informed by the UB 2020 strategic strengths. Among the nationally and internationally renowned faculty members he cited who started this semester are Christanne Miller, chair of the Department of English, and her husband, Jerold Frakes, who also will join the English faculty; Niraj Verma, chair of the Department of Urban Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning; and Lynn Kozlowski, who is serving as chair of the new Department of Health Behavior in the School of Public Health and Health Professions.