PROFESSOR
WILLIAM R. GREINER, UB’S
PRESIDENT, TO RETIRE JUNE 30TH
A
Memo from President Greiner to the UB Community
MEMO TO: The University at
Buffalo Community
FROM: President William
R. Greiner
RE: Retirement
Plans
DATE: January 13,
2003
I have informed Chancellor
Robert King and the chairs of the UB Council and the UB Foundation that
I will be retiring as the 13th president of UB effective June
30, 2003 or at such later date as the Chancellor may request, depending
on the timing of the appointment of UB’s 14th president.
This decision follows from professional and person judgments made by Carol
and me, and from a commitment made when I was appointed president in 1991,
namely that I would plan to serve up to 13 years. My 13th
year of service will begin on March 1, 2003; in May for the 13th
time, I will preside over UB’s several commencements.
Carol and I came to UB and Buffalo/Niagara in 1967, full of anticipation
and hope for a bright future for us, our children, and UB. We had no
inkling how wonderful and rewarding our life here would be. As newcomers,
we were told Buffalo is the city of good neighbors, and that has proven
to be true for us both in the city and throughout the region. UB has
been our special neighborhood, our special family. And what a wonderful
family, composed as it is of an extraordinarily diverse community of scholars,
students, staff, alumni and volunteers. The UB community has, in good
times and trying times, worked together to preserve and advance our university.
This communal commitment to the welfare of the institution is, in my view,
on of the hallmarks of UB.
The accomplishments of any research university are the product of the
work and interactions of the members of the university community. We
all can be very proud of the many outstanding advances made during this
time that I have had the honor and privilege of serving as faculty member
and university administrator and leader. All of us have benefited from
the work of present and former colleagues and we built and are building
on that foundation. As Provost and President I have done my best to support
and supplement the work of the UB family so that we might leave UB a better
place for those that will follow
But it is your efforts that have advanced UB on all
important dimensions. The indicators speak for themselves:
·
Extraordinary advances
and achievements in research, scholarship, and creative activities;
·
Quality of faculty and
students
·
Advances in teaching methods
and the delivery of instruction;
·
Broadening of academic
programs to provide education appropriate to the needs and opportunities
of the 21st century;
·
Academic program quality
improvement;
·
Improved transfer of technology
to the marketplace;
·
Diversity and amount of
on-campus student housing;
·
Recruitment of exceptional
senior faculty and senior administrative leadership;
·
Enormous growth in the
use of information technology for research, teaching and administrative
purposes;
·
Continuing growth in the
diversity of our UB community;
·
Exceptional public service;
·
And our ability to provide
the resources for many of these improvements through growth in non-tax
revenues and added financial/administrative flexibility.
My
thanks to you all for all that you have done to make UB what it is today.
Special thanks as well to the chairs of the Council and UB foundation,
the Council and UB Foundation members, Chancellors, SUNY Trustees, and
administrative colleagues who made it possible for me to serve as your
president. Carol and I feel blessed and privileged to have worked with
you in service to UB. Now it is time for us to move to a different role,
but still in service to UB, we hope for years to come.
A new chapter in our 157 year history is about to begin.
Look forward to it, as I do, with enormous pride in our accomplishments
and with a clear sense that the best is yet to come.
|
.gif)
