University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.
Motto	Mens sana in corpore sano (Latin: "Sound Mind in a Sound Body")
Established	1846
Type	Public
Endowment	US $410.5 million (2009)[1]
President	John B. Simpson
Provost	Satish Tripathi
Academic staff	2,667[1]
Students	28,192[1]
Undergraduates	19,022[1]
Postgraduates	9,170[1]
Location	Buffalo, NY, USA
Campus	Suburban 1346 acres (5.45 km²)
Colors	Blue and White
Mascot	Victor E. Bull Victoria S. Bull
Affiliations	State University of New York, AAU, Mid-American Conference
Website	www.buffalo.edu

State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly known as the University at Buffalo or UB, is a public research university which has multiple campuses located in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, USA. Offering 84 bachelor's, 184 master's and 78 doctoral degrees, it is a flagship campus ^[2] and the largest of the four comprehensive university centers within the State University of New York (SUNY) system.^[3] From its inception in 1846 until 1962, the private school was known as the University of Buffalo. Once it became a state university, the name was changed, but many alumni still refer to it by the former name.

According to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the University at Buffalo is a Research University with Very High Research Activity (RU/VH). In 1989, UB was elected to the Association of American Universities, which represents 63 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. UB's alumni and faculty have produced a U.S. President, astronauts, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and other notable individuals in their fields. The University houses the largest state-operated medical school and features the only state law school,^[4] architecture and urban planning school, and pharmacy school in the state of New York.

History

Initial years

The University of Buffalo was founded in May 1846 as a private medical school to train the doctors for the communities of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and surrounding villages. James Platt White was instrumental in obtaining a charter for the University of Buffalo from the state legislature in 1846. He also taught the first class of 89 men in obstetrics.

The doors first opened to students in 1847 and after associating with a hospital for teaching purposes, the first class of students graduated the medical school in July 1847. The first chancellor of the University was future President of the United States Millard Fillmore. Upon his ascension to the presidency after President Taylor's death, Fillmore stayed on as part-time chancellor. Fillmore's name now graces the continuing education school Millard Fillmore College located on the South Campus as well as the Millard Fillmore Academic Center, an academic and administrative services building at the core of the residential Joseph Ellicott Complex, located on the North Campus.

Early development

After many expansions to the college medical programs, including the addition of a pharmacy division, UB acquired the Buffalo Law School from Niagara University in 1891 and formed the University of Buffalo Law School.

In 1909 the University acquired property (the "Erie County Almshouse") from the county of Erie, which became the first building on what would later become UB's initial comprehensive campus. Although the South Campus (also called the "Main Street" campus) is often referred to as the "original campus", the South (Main Street) Campus is not actually the University's oldest property. UB was originally housed in a leased building, the First Baptist Church which had also served as a post office from 1836-1846.

In 1915, the then University of Buffalo formed the College of Arts and Sciences, formally departing from its tradition of teaching only for licensed professional fields. During the late 1960s, the College of Arts and Sciences was divided into three separate schools: arts and letters, natural sciences and mathematics, and social sciences. During the 1998-1999 academic year, the three schools were reunited to re-create the existing College of Arts and Sciences.

In 1950, the Industrial Engineering department branched off from the Mechanical Engineering department. In 1956, a Civil Engineering Department was formed under Lehigh University graduate Robert L. Ketter, who went on to become Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and later President of the University.

In 1959, WBFO was launched as an AM radio station by UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and run by UB's students. The station has since become the launching pad of two modern National Public Radio personalities: Terri Gross and Ira Flatow.

In the early 1960s, the private University of Buffalo was purchased by and incorporated into the SUNY system, and became known as the University at Buffalo or SUNY at Buffalo.

The nuclear reactor on the South Campus

In 1961, the Western New York nuclear research program was created. This little known program installed a miniature, active nuclear fission reactor on the University's South (Main Street) Campus. This program was not particularly active, nor could it compete with government-run research labs operated by rival UC Berkeley. Consequently, the programs performed in this facility were abandoned somewhat shortly after its inception. This reactor was formally decommissioned in 2005 with little fanfare due to material security concerns.

In 1964, UB acquired property in the northern town of Amherst for future development of a second campus catering to most non-medical disciplines at UB. This would later become the North Campus, and the center of most non-medical UB activity.

UB 2020

Started in 2004 under President John B. Simpson, UB 2020 is a massive strategic planning initiative to develop and implement a vision for the university over the next 15 years.^[5] The centerpiece of UB 2020 is to add about 10,000 more students, 750 faculty members and 600 staff, increasing the size of the University by about 40 percent. UB 2020 also recognizes the university's contribution to the surrounding region. The most recent estimates of UB's impact on the local and regional economies of Western New York report approximately $1.50 billion are brought into the local economy from the presence of UB, whose annual budget is currently $96 million. Both of these figures are also expected to rise by 40 percent, corresponding with UB’s institutional growth.

The five major principles that guide UB 2020 are promoting academic excellence (i.e.: the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and the development of vital intellectual communities); promoting a united and accessible university campus that features three strong, distinctive and seamlessly interconnected centers and facilitates social interaction; reflecting the university’s responsibility to the community by respecting public plans and policies; providing the basis for long-range capital programming and stewardship of university resources; and establishing UB as a leader in environmental stewardship and sustainable development.

The four main components of UB 2020 are "Excelling in Academics," "Strategic Strengths," "Building UB: The Comprehensive Physical Plan," and "Achieving Growth".

One of the keys to helping UB achieve the goals of the UB 2020 plan is the passage of S2020 and A2020 by the New York State Legislature. The bill is known as the UB 2020 flexibility and economic growth act. On June 3, 2009 the State Senate passed S2020 and sent the bill to the Assembly for their consideration.^[6]

Comprehensive Physical Plan

The University at Buffalo has accumulated 27,700 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as 14,000 employees, across three campuses in the last 160 years. In order to accommodate both students and faculty, the university is currently implementing a $4.5 million Comprehensive Physical Plan to help in growth as well as to best utilize and enhance current facilities. Connecting all three campuses, as well as the facilities UB uses, is also a major element of the project. The firm granted the contract to lead the project is Beyer Blinder Belle.

The comprehensive physical planning process is broken into four phases. Currently, UB is implementing "phase one" by seeking input from the local and university communities to pinpoint issues, opportunities, and concerns related to this expansion. The project recognizes UB’s potential for excellence, in regard to the university's physical environment, by highlighting and evaluating various positive and negative attributes of the three campuses, including housing, circulation, functionality, landscape, and community interface ^[7].

Campus

The University at Buffalo is the state’s largest and most comprehensive public university and is spread across three campuses: North Campus, South Campus, and Downtown Campus.^[8][9]

North Campus

Construction of this campus began in the 1970s.^[10] Many academic programs, including the entirety of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University at Buffalo Law School, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the School of Management, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Graduate School of Social Work, and the Graduate School of Education, as well as Lockwood Memorial Library, Capen Library, and many administrative offices, are located on UB's North Campus in Amherst, NY.

The North Campus is home to administrative offices and the academic "spine" that includes most of UB's academic buildings. It covers 1,192 acres (5 km²) with 146 buildings containing 6,715,492 sq ft (623,890 m²), 10 residence halls and 5 apartment complexes.^[8] Its immense size also necessitated the creation of a shuttle system circling the academic sector and surrounding areas including the administrative complex, located nearly a quarter mile from the central academic area.

UB's North Campus.

The North Campus offers a variety of entertainment programming and activity for students. It contains the Student Union, which houses offices for the Student Association and student-interest clubs; Slee Hall, which presents contemporary and classical music concerts; Alumni Arena, the home-court for University Athletics; the UB Center for the Arts, a non-profit presenter of a wide variety of professional entertainment and UB Stadium, the 30,000 seat Football Stadium.

South Campus

Abbott Hall on South Campus

The South Campus is located on the former grounds of the Erie County Almshouse and Insane Asylum, of which four buildings still remain (Hayes Hall, the former insane asylum; Wende Hall, a former maternity hospital; Hayes D; and Townsend Hall, a former nurses' quarters).^[11] The college was designed by architect E.B. Green in 1910, and was intended to resemble Trinity College, Dublin. The South Campus, also the initial campus, is located on 154 acres (0.62 km²) in northeastern Buffalo. Its 53 buildings contain (3,045,198 sq ft (282,908 m²)) and include six resident halls.^[8] This campus is served by the northernmost subway station on Buffalo's Niagara Frontier Metro Rail system. Today, it is the home of some of the University's specialized academic programs including the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the School of Public Health and Health Related Professions, the School of Nursing, the School of Dental Medicine, and the School of Architecture and Urban Planning. UB is currently in the planning and design phase of relocating the School of Pharmacy to Acheson Hall on the South Campus with 2010 as the target year. In addition, the University at Buffalo South Campus is the home of the WBFO radio station, the University's biomedical science research complex, the Health Sciences Library and certain administrative offices. Additionally, 20 percent of UB's resident population continues to live in the original residential complexes located on the South (Main Street) Campus. Adjacent to the UB South Campus is the UB Anderson Art Gallery,^[12] a former elementary school converted with an all-glass atrium exhibit space.

Downtown Campus

In 2002, UB commissioned Boston firm Chan Krieger to create a third campus center.^[10] The downtown campus is the site UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Science, which partners in research with UB's Ira G. Ross Eye Institute^[13][14] as well as the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute to compose the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus. Also located in the downtown area is UB's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA), Educational Opportunity Center (EOC)^[15] and the Jacobs Executive Development Center (JEDC). The campus includes six major properties and a total of 43 buildings, counting shared lease space (588,506 sq ft (54,674 m²)).^[16]

In September 2007, UB added the former M. Wile and Company Factory Building on the southeast corner of Goodell and Ellicott streets and the former Trico Products Corp. building complex on the northwest corner of Goodell and Ellicott streets to its properties downtown. The UB Regional Institute, Center on Rehabilitation Synergy, and a number of pre-K-16 initiatives related to UB's civic engagement mission, such as the UB-Buffalo Public Schools Partnership office, are set to relocate to the first site. The latter location has been purchased to house additional biomedical- and life science-related businesses connected to the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus.^[17][18]

Teaching hospitals

UB's teaching hospitals include Buffalo General Hospital, the Erie County Medical Center (ECMC), Millard Fillmore Hospital, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Veterans Affairs Western New York Health Care System. Additional facilities include free clinics such as the Kaleida Health's Niagara Family Health Center and the Lighthouse Free Medical Clinic, a program run by UB medical students.

Organization

Schools and colleges

UB consists of the following academic units:^[19]

• The School of Architecture and Planning^[20]: UB is the only school within the State University of New York system that offers both pre-professional and accredited professional degrees in architecture and urban planning. In academic year 2008-2009, the School of Architecture and Planning awarded 96 baccalaureate degrees and 69 master's degrees. Student organizations within the UB School of Architecture and Planning include the UB chapters of the American Institute of Architecture Students and Alpha Rho Chi.
• The School of Dental Medicine: founded in 1892.^[21]
• The College of Arts & Sciences^[22]
• The Graduate School of Education^[23]: One of the largest graduate schools at UB, composed of four academic departments; counseling and educational psychology, educational leadership and policy, learning and instruction, and library and information science. In academic year 2008-2009, the Graduate School of Education awarded 472 master's degrees and 52 doctoral degrees. In 2010, UB is ranked No. 56 by U.S. News and World Report in the ranking of best education programs.^[24]
• The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences^[25]: offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in six departments. In 2004-05, they conferred 498 BS (and 13 BA), 39 MEng, 330 MS, and 63 PhD degrees. In 2010, UB is ranked No. 51 by U.S. News and World Report in the ranking of top engineering schools.^[26]
• The UB Law School^[27]: Has new concentrations in Labor and Employment Law and in Technology and Intellectual Property. The University at Buffalo Law School is ranked as one of the top 100 law schools in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.
• The School of Management^[28]:For the fourth consecutive year, the Wall Street Journal has ranked UB’s School of Management as one of the world’s top business schools for the fastest return on MBA investment according to BusinessWeek. Forbes magazine ranks the UB School of Management as one of the best schools for its apparent "return on investment" it provides MBA graduates. The undergraduate program at the UB School of Management is ranked No. 57 by U.S. News & World Report — higher than any other SUNY undergraduate business programs.^[29] In 2010, the UB School of Management is also ranked No. 70, out of 426 MBA programs by U.S. News and World Report in its annual ranking of MBA programs.^[30] Indicative of its national leadership, the School of Management recently established a certificate program and an MBA option in information assurance and an MS program in financial engineering (in cooperation with the Department of Mathematics). The School of Management has also recently established an MBA option in biotechnology management. This program is designed to integrate the school’s mission in business education with the university mission as it relates to technology-based entrepreneurship.
• The School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences^[31]: Now 161 years old, the founding faculty of the University. In 2010, UB is ranked No. 59 by U.S. News and World Report in the ranking of best medical schools.^[32]
• The School of Nursing^[33]: Maintains membership in the national honor society in nursing, Sigma Theta Tau, Inc., through the Gamma Kappa Chapter. The School also holds membership in the National Student Nurses Association. In 2010, UB is ranked No. 72 by U.S. News and World Report in the ranking of top nursing programs.^[34]
• The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences^[35]: The second-oldest component of the University at Buffalo and the only pharmacy school in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It is consistently ranked among the top pharmacy schools in the United States. In 2010, UB is ranked No. 21 by U.S. News and World Report in the ranking of top pharmacy programs.^[36]
• The School of Public Health and Health Professions^[37]: Created in 2003 by combining the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine and the UB School of Health Related Professions. The school's goal is to create an environment in which researchers, educators, public health and other health professionals, and students can work together to explore problems and produce innovative solutions to address emerging health needs for populations and individuals.
• The Roswell Park Cancer Institute Graduate Division^[38]: Founded in 1898 by the preeminent surgeon Dr. Roswell Park, it is the oldest comprehensive cancer center in the world.
• The Graduate School of Social Work^[39]: Founded in 1924. In academic year 2008-2009, the Graduate School of Social Work awarded 257 master's degrees and 3 doctoral degrees. In 2010, UB is ranked No. 36 by U.S. News and World Report in the ranking of top social work programs.^[40]

Libraries

UB has nine libraries on its North (Amherst), South (Buffalo), and Downtown (Buffalo) campuses. The libraries' 3.6 million-plus print volumes are augmented by extensive digital resources, including full-text electronic journals, databases, media, and special collections, which include the world's single largest collection of James Joyce manuscripts and artifacts.

Nomenclature

Since early 1998, the State University of New York at Buffalo form has evolved, and there are three names deemed acceptable by the university according to "The University at Buffalo Visual Identity",^[41] with a fourth acceptable for reference to athletic programs:

• University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. This is the full name, used by the university for formal communications to national audiences.
• University at Buffalo. This is the less formal name, used within the university, and with many outside groups that are familiar with the University at Buffalo.
• UB. This shortened term "UB" is the preferred casual term to refer to school.
• Buffalo. This is the standard name for the University at Buffalo athletic department.

Academia

O'Brian Hall, houses the UB Law School. Baldy Hall is on the left and is home to the Graduate School of Education and the Graduate School of Social Work.

UB's admission is selective.^[42] Emphasis has been placed on developing a community of research scientists centered around an economic initiative to promote Buffalo and create the Center of Excellence for Bioinformatics and Life Sciences as well as other advanced biomedical and engineering disciplines.^[43] The university's Center for Computational Research (CCR) is one of the most powerful academic supercomputing sites in the eastern United States,^[44] which once ranked 22nd out of the top 500 supercomputing sites in the world; as of November 2006, it was ranked 87th.^[45] However, as of November 2009, UB no longer ranked in the top 500 supercomputing sites in the world.^[46]

Because of fluctuating state funding, UB has invested in such commercially beneficial fields as medicine, biotechnology, and bioinformatics.

Historically, UB was a technology pioneer, offering the first bona fide Computer Science major (distinct from a mathematics major).^[47] Additionally, UB played a significant role as a crucial internet hub for the eastern seaboard during the internet's inception.

Total R&D expenditures rose from $186.8 million to $259.0 million for FY 2001–04, ranking 58 under New York University (NYU).^[48] It rose to $297,909,000 for the year 2006.^[49]

Buffalo ranked 77-107 worldwide among universities in the social sciences in 2008 by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.^[50]

University at Buffalo academic and professional faculty are represented by United University Professions.^[51] The two UUP chapters at the University at Buffalo are Health Sciences and Buffalo Center. United University Professions has over 34,000 members at 29 campuses of SUNY.

The University at Buffalo is also one of only two public schools in New York to have a medical school and a dental school, the other being the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Student body

UB has a total student capacity estimated around 33,000 total students, a number which is quite common among other "super university" schools, though the school has never seen this many enrolled students. The University at Buffalo is the largest public university in the northeastern United States (comprising New England and New York State). Student enrollment trends reported by the University at Buffalo's Office of Academic Planning and Budget^[52] reflect UB's growing student population:

Student life

Associations and activities

UB boasts two student-run periodicals: The Spectrum,^[53] and Generation magazine.^[54] Both publications are distributed on campus. The Spectrum is the only independent publication, funded solely through advertising. Generation is funded by advertising and through Sub-Board I, Inc.^[55], the student services corporation. UB also has a student radio station, WRUB.^[56] WRUB broadcasts all UB home football games and select road games, as well as most UB men's and women's home basketball games.

UB annually hosts the world’s largest mud-volleyball game know as “Ooz-fest”. Teams of at least six students compete in a double elimination volleyball tournament at “The Mud Pit” each April. Fire trucks are brought in to saturate the dirt courts to create the mud. Awards are handed out to not only the victors, but the most creatively dressed. In the past, students have worn business suits and even dresses to the tournament.

UB clubs are run through the Undergraduate Student Association and the Graduate Student Association, with each level requiring respective senate recognition for clubs.

Athletics

The school's sports teams are known as the Buffalo Bulls. However, the women's teams were originally called the Buffalo Royals.

In 1958, the football team won the Lambert Cup, emblematic of supremacy in Eastern U.S. small-college football. That led to the team's first bowl invitation, to the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Florida, against Florida State University. But the Bulls would be allowed to participate only if backup defensive end Mike Wilson and starting halfback Willie Evans, who were black, did not play. The team stood behind the two, and refused the bowl offer; Buffalo did not receive another bowl invitation until the 2008 season.^[57]

Several UB football stars from the 1950s and early 1960s went on to play professional football, including quarterback John Stofa with the American Football League's Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals, and defensive lineman Gerry Philbin with the AFL's New York Jets. Philbin is a member of the AFL Hall of Fame and the All-time All-AFL Team. Philbin and UB's Willie Ross were the only UB graduates to play on professional football championship teams in the United States: Ross with the 1964 AFL Champion Buffalo Bills; and Philbin with the 1968 AFL Champion New York Jets, who also won that season's AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl III). Ramon Guzman played on the 2009 Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes.

Since 1996, the UB teams have participated in the NCAA's Division I (I-A for football), in the Mid-American Conference. The mascots are 'Victor E. Bull', a blue bull with a gold nose ring, and his sister 'Victoria S. Bull'. After several years of poor performance in the two most popular college sports, men's basketball and football, the university's men's basketball team has recently begun to show some promise. In March 2005, the team fell short by only 0.5 seconds (for the Mid-American Conference Championship) of clinching a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The school's football team, however, performed poorly that year, winning just one game during the season. At the end of the 2005 season, football coach Jim Hofher was dismissed from his position.

On March 25, 2009, the athletic department announced that the rowing program has joined the Colonial Athletic Association as an associate member.

With the hiring of Turner Gill as head football coach, UB is the only Division I-A school with an African American athletic director (Warde Manuel), men's basketball head coach (Reggie Witherspoon), and football head coach (Gill).

The university is home to the Thunder of the East marching band. The band performs at all home football games and travels to both local and national parades and competitions.

Jamey Richard, 2008 graduate of the University of Buffalo, plays in the National Football League and was selected by the Indianapolis Colts in the 7th round, with the 236 pick of the 2008 NFL Draft. Trevor Scott, 2008 graduate of the University of Buffalo, plays in the NFL and was selected by the Oakland Raiders. Quarterback Drew Willy, 2009 graduate of the University of Buffalo, was recently signed to the practice squad of the Indianapolis Colts.^[58]

Buffalo has three fight songs: "Victory March", "Go For a Touchdown", and "Buffalo Fight Song".^[59]

Student housing

The Hadley Village Apartments at North Campus

Student residence halls are located on both the North and South Campuses. In 1999, the university built its first apartment complex for families and graduate students at Flickinger Court. Since the success of Flickinger, UB has developed South Lake Village, Hadley Village, Flint Village, and Creekside Apartments. Most students who wish to still live on or near the North Campus but enjoy the lifestyle of apartment living take advantage of these apartments. Collegiate Village off campus apartments offers transportation to both North and South Campus ^[60]. Students also find housing in private locations. Those locations are generally situated in the University Heights district of Buffalo, and other areas close to the North and South Campuses. The school assigns rooms based on a lottery system.

Images of the Ellicott Complex

Spaulding and Wilkeson Quad at SUNY Buffalo

The Terrace which connects all the Ellicot complex residence halls

Red Jacket (left) and Richmond (right) with the food court in between

Notable faculty and alumni

UB in popular culture

The first season of the MTV show Fraternity Life and the second season of Sorority Life were filmed at UB. Also, the NBC show Jesse starring Christina Applegate took place in Buffalo, and external shots for the show were filmed at South Campus.

Shakespeare in Delaware Park, currently the second-largest free outdoor Shakespeare festival in the United States, began as a class in the University's theatre department, taught by Professor Saul Elkin.

See also

• Buffalo State College (a SUNY college in Buffalo)

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Buffalo athletics site
• History of UB
• Google Maps satellite image of University at Buffalo North Campus
• ESPN.com story on the Bulls' 1958 Tangerine Bowl invitation
• UB on YouTube