University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

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{{Infobox_University |name = University at Buffalo, The State University of New York |image = Image:UBseal.gif |motto = |established = 1846 |type = Public |faculty = 1,932 |president = John B. Simpson |students = |undergrad = 18,165 |postgrad = 9,055 |doctoral = |city = Buffalo |state = NY |country = USA |campus = Suburban, 1,192 acres (4.8 km²) |colors = |mascot = Victor E. Bull
Victoria S. Bull |nickname = |affiliations = State University of New York |website = Buffalo.edu }}

The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, (formerly the State University of New York at Buffalo or SUNY-Buffalo, now also known more simply as the University at Buffalo or UB), located in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, is the largest of the four university centers of the State University of New York (SUNY). It is a public, doctoral-granting, teaching and research institution. The University at Buffalo houses the largest state-operated medical school and the only state-operated law school in New York State.

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Nomenclature

Prior to its founding, a demand was made for a "University of Western New York" to be placed in modern day downtown Buffalo. Upon its founding as a medical school, it was known as the "University of Buffalo." The shortened term, "UB," became the preferred casual term to refer to school. In the early 1960s, when the University of Buffalo was purchased by and incorprated into the SUNY system, the name changed to the "State University of New York at Buffalo", and was official up until recently. Since 2005, the "State University of New York at Buffalo" form is deprecated, and there are three names deemed acceptable by the university;

  • University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. This is the most formal form.
  • University at Buffalo.
  • UB. This is the preferred casual form.

The name change was enacted to clarify the position of the component universities in the SUNY system.

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History

UB was founded in 1846 to serve as a medical school to train the doctors for the communities of Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and surrounding villages. It first opened to students in 1847, and after establishing the medical school and associating with a hospital for teaching purposes, the first graduates of the medical school were 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 University's correspondence and night school, Millard Fillmore College, as well as Fillmore Hall, an academic and services building at the core of the residential Ellicott Complex.

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

In 1909 the university acquired from the county of Erie, property outside the city of Buffalo to the northeast on Main Street. This property, (the "Erie County Almshouse") became the first building on what would later become UB's newest comprehensive campus. Although today, the Main Street Campus (also called "South" campus) is often referred to as the "old campus," indeed, the Main street campus is not actually UB's oldest property. UB was originally housed in a leased building in an area deep in downtown Buffalo.

In 1915, the University at Buffalo formed the College of Arts and Sciences, formally deviating from their tradition of only teaching for licensed professional fields. Over the decades, the University added to the offerings of each division, including adding divisions such as the graduate school, the school of education, school of social work, the evening school, and the engineering school.

In 1950, the industrial engineering department branched off from the mechanical engineering department.

In 1959, WBFO was launched as a simple AM radio station by UB's School of Engineering, and run by UB's students. WBFO became the launching pad of two modern NPR personalities Terri Gross and Ira Flatlow.

In 1961, the Western New York nuclear research program was created. This little known program installed a miniature, active nuclear fission reactor on the Universities Main Street Campus. This program was not particuarlally active, nor could it compete with government-run research labs operated by rival UC Berkley. 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 northern, neighboring Amherst, NY for future development of a second campus catering to all non-medical disciplines at UB (with medicine remaining exclusively at the Main Street campus.) This would later become the North Campus, and the center of most UB activity for the remainder of the institutions existence.

Today, UB is the self proclaimed "Crown Jewel of SUNY." As of 2005, it is the largest and most comprehensive school in the SUNY system, offering nearly every presently accredited higher education certificate under one institutional roof. (JD, MD, DDS, PhD, PharmD, MFA, MBA, BFA, BA, MS, BS, RN, LpN)

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Two Campuses

The campus located at the edge of the northeastern most part of Buffalo NY, is now the South Campus of the University at Buffalo. This campus is served by the northernmost subway station on Buffalo's Buffalo Niagara Metro Transit system. Today, it is the home of some of the university's specialized academic programs including the Schools of Medical and Dental Sciences, the undergraduate and graduate departments of urban planning and architecture; the home of the WBFO radio station, the University's medical science research complex, and certain administrative offices. Additionally, a portion of the school's resident undergraduate population continues to live in the original residential complexes located on the Main Street Campus.

Most every other academic program, including the entirety of the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Law, The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, The School of Management, The school of Pharmacy and the Graduate School of Education, as well as virtually every administrative office is now located at the North Campus in Amherst, NY.

The two-campus model was envisioned by the trustees of the 1960s, each campus featuring a separation along disciplines.

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Sprawl

UB has a total student capacity estimated around 30,000 total students, a number which is quite common among other "super university" schools. Though the school has never seen this many enrolled students, the design of UB is nonetheless accommodating of so many.

However, despite the division among academic discipline lines, the school cannot mask the fact that it is actually indeed two separate institutions displaced by several miles between them. Students with classes on both campus are the most challenged by the distance between campuses; however, this distance generally affects only students pursuing interdisciplinary work involving medical science.

Many undergraduates are still housed in the older South-Campus dormitory buildings. These students, who could not select their optimal housing, have classes located on the north campus 3 miles away, but are living on the south campus.

Students on the north campus who find the isolation of Amherst, the suburb that surrounds the university, to be too stifling often venture into the diverse environment of the nearby city of Buffalo to enjoy its comparative diversity. Since most residents are not drivers, due to a variety of constraints, students from the north campus often find themselves isolated from Buffalo, despite being at the University at Buffalo. The nearest large selection of shopping (to the North Campus) is Amherst's Boulevard Mall, about 2 miles away.

UB has, as a result of all these problems, facilitated the creation of a system of intercampus buses providing 20 hour a day transportation from Amherst to the Main Street Campus. Thus, the university is responsible for running its own transit system. The north campus is nearly 7 square miles, with dormitories situation as far as a quarter of a mile from the academic buildings. The busing system as a result has to provide students transportation between the dorm complexes on the north campus, and the actual academic sector of the same campus, increasing the university's costs, and relative environmental impact. The north campus's 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 away from the academic area, again increasing costs and environmental impact from busing.

A shortage in affordable housing provided by the school means students often find housing in private locations. Those locations are generally situated in the University Heights district of Buffalo, because the Main Street campus is surrounded by the city of Buffalo, and the Amherst (North) campus is surrounded by interstates and a forest.

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Academia

UB is very well-regarded as an educational institution, and the admissions process is described as "competitive," particularly for out-of-state applicants. In recent years an increasing emphasis in both publicity and financial consideration has been placed on the development of a thriving community of research scientists, mostly centered around an economic initiative to promote Buffalo as a center of excellence for Bioinformatics and other advanced biomedical and engineering disciplines. The university's Center for Computational Research is one of the most powerful academic supercomputing sites in the eastern United States, and is commanded by the Bioinformatics department for various works involving genetics.

Like most research institutions, UB gives its faculty great incentive to research alongside their teaching obligations. Although this practice is very widespread, and practiced at virtually every University in America (and all SUNY Universities), some students criticize the system, claiming it guarantees tenure to faculty with questionable teaching capabilities. SUNY as a system has received fluctuating funding from the State of New York over the past 10 years as the result of much political debate by State politicians. UB, like many other institutions, has had to take matters of ensuring future success into their own hands. The result are decisions to begin investments into fields of "commercial benefit" which has left some pure academic fields like the natural sciences (most noticeably Physics), mathematics and liberal arts disciplines in funding crunches, or reduced to supportive roles (as the mathematics department has largely become) in favor of medicine, biotechnology and bioinformatics.

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Athletics

In 1993, the University's trustees and the President of the University completed their dream of advancing UB into the arena of major college sports. In anticipation of hosting the World University Games, this year saw the completion of the UB Stadium, a 30,000-seat open-air stadium located at the northern side of the Amherst campus. With the stadium also came acceptance into the elite Division 1 grade of collegiate sports.

The school's sports teams are known as the Buffalo Bulls. They participate in the NCAA's Division I (I-A for football) and in the Mid-American Conference. The mascots are Victor E. Bull, who is blue 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 one win (for the Mid-American Conference Championship) of clinching a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The school's football team, however, still performs poorly, having won only one game during the 2005 season. At the end of the 2005 season, football coach Jim Hofher was dismissed from his position.

With the hiring of Turner Gill as head football coach, UB is the only Division I-A school with an African American Athletic Director, Men's Basketball Head Coach, and Football Head Coach

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Miscellaneous

The location in and near Buffalo, New York, provides students, faculty, and staff with the usual urban facilites (museums, zoo, entertainment, transportation centers) without the congestion and high costs normally associated with large cities. Some, however, criticize some of the isolation that comes from North Campus' suburban setting. It is within driving distance of two of the Great Lakes and Niagara Falls.

The University at Buffalo is home to The Poetry Collection.

UB ranks 11th in the United States for international student enrollment, with about 15% of UB students being international.

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Notable Alumni of the University at Buffalo

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See also

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External links

Template:SUNY Template:Mid-American Conferencezh:紐約州立大學水牛城分校

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