A week after the investiture of John Simpson, the UB president and his staff are urging students to get involved in UB2020, a committee comprised of faculty, staff, and university officials that will decide UB's long-term plan.
Spearheaded by Simpson, UB2020's objective is to assess the current status of the university in every area to determine its strengths and weaknesses. After that, a long-term development plan will be established to strengthen the university, with a deadline of 2020, officials said.
"I think it's a great idea because we're such a large institution," said Deborah Silverman, content manager of the UB2020 website. "We're so complex, and we have a need to identify the priorities of UB so that we can move forward to become a truly outstanding university."
The process began last spring when each academic department performed a self-study, assessing their strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats. Once the information was collected, it was turned over to university officials who discussed the findings in the mid-summer months.
According to officials, the objective for this semester is to construct an academic plan for UB. Students will be consulted in various ways, including mass surveys in classes and suggestions offered on the UB2020 Web site. Silverman urged students to go to the Web site through MyUB and participate in the planning process.
Silverman said she hopes the UB2020 process will cement UB's respected role in the Buffalo community.
"The University of Buffalo is considered to be a leader of Western New York, especially in the economy," said Silverman. "People look to this institution with a great deal of respect."
Silverman added there has been difficulty collaborating between professors and departments due to the disparity between people's schedules.
"It's very difficult to communicate because we're here for classes, we're here for work, then we go our separate ways," Silverman said.
According to Silverman, the UB2020 committee will focus on fair treatment for all the academic departments.
"President Simpson wants to make sure the humanities and social sciences are represented," Silverman said. "All of the academic disciplines are being acknowledged here."
James Willis, Simpson's chief of staff, echoed Silverman's sentiments.
"If you look at what Simpson has done at Santa Cruz and other places, he recognizes the important contributions that the humanities and the arts make in a public research setting," he said.
Willis also said he thinks of UB2020 not only as the committee itself, but also the finalized vision of UB's future.
"I see 2020 as more of an endpoint on the horizon," Willis said.
Many students seem supportive of changes in UB's future, although the changes they suggest hit a little closer to home for the student body.
When asked what they would like to see improve at UB, many students said decreased class size, increased parking spaces, and a revision to meal policy on campus.
"There are three meals in the day, and I'd like to eat lunch on the meal plan," said Meghana Pandit, a junior industrial engineering major. "You don't wake up for breakfast, it's just too early. If you have late classes, you don't want to go the whole day without eating."
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
