The State University of New York at Buffalo is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. It is commonly referred to as the University at Buffalo (UB) or SUNY Buffalo, and was formerly known as the University of Buffalo. The university was founded in 1846 as a private medical university, but in 1962 merged with the State University of New York (SUNY) system. By enrollment, UB is the largest in the SUNY system, and also the largest public university in New York. UB also has the largest endowment and research funding, as a comprehensive university center in the SUNY system.
As of 2017, the university enrolls 29,806 students in 13 colleges. In addition to the College of Arts and Sciences, the university houses the largest state-operated medical school, dental school, education school, business school, engineering school, and also features the only state law school, architecture and urban planning school, and pharmacy school in the state of New York. The university offers over 100 bachelor's, 205 master's, 84 doctoral, and 10 professional areas of study.
According to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the University at Buffalo is a Doctoral University with the Highest research activity (R1). In 1989, UB was elected to the Association of American Universities, which represents 62 prestigious, leading research universities in the United States and Canada. UB's alumni and faculty have included a Prime Minister, astronauts, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, 3 billionaires, Academy Award winners, Emmy Award winners, Fulbright Scholars, and Rhodes Scholars. The university was founded by U.S. President and U.S. Vice President, Millard Fillmore, who served as the school's first chancellor, making UB one of the only two universities founded by a U.S. President.
In the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education 2017 inaugural ranking, UB was ranked as the #1 public university in New York and #28 in the nation. Buffalo has consistently placed in the top cluster of U.S. public research universities and among the overall top 30 research universities according to the Center for Measuring University Performance and was ranked as the 38th best value for in-state students and the 27th best value for out-of-state students in the 2012 Kiplinger rankings of best value of national universities. U.S. News and World Report's 2017 edition of America's Best Colleges ranked UB 99th on their list of best national universities and 43rd among public universities.
History
City leaders of Buffalo sought to establish a university in the city from the earliest days of Buffalo. A "University of Western New York" was begun at Buffalo under the auspices of the Presbyterian Church and property was purchased at North Street and College, (the site of the later YMCA), on the north side of the Allentown district. This university was chartered by the state on April 8, 1836. However, the project collapsed and no classes were ever offered, and only the layout of College Street remains.
The University of Buffalo was founded by United States President Millard Fillmore on May 11, 1846, prior to his ascension to the presidency, 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. State Assemblyman Nathan K. Hall was also "particularly active in procuring the charter". 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. Founder Millard Fillmore served as the school's first chancellor. 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 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, on the North Campus.
"The first lectures were delivered in a wooden building over the old post office, corner of Seneca and Washington streets." The first building specially built for the university was a stone building at the corner of Main and Virginia streets, built in 1849â€"50, through donations, public subscription, and a state grant. There were continuous expansions to the college medical programs, including a separate pharmacy division, which is now The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 1887, a law school was organized in Buffalo, which quickly became associated with Niagara University just to the north of Buffalo. After four years, in 1891, the law school was acquired by the University of Buffalo as the University of Buffalo Law School, which had a downtown Buffalo facility. In the first few years of the 20th century, the University began planning for a comprehensive undergraduate college to complete the basic structure of a university, and in 1909 the University acquired the Erie County Almshouse grounds from the county of Erie, which became the University of Buffalo's initial campus. The establishment may have been influenced by the 1910 Flexner Report which criticized the preparation of the medical students at the university. With that additional space, in 1915, the then University of Buffalo formed the College of Arts and Sciences, creating an undergraduate division in addition to its prior educational work in the licensed professional fields. In 1916, Grace Millard Knox pledged $500,000 for the establishment of a "department of liberal arts and sciences in the University of Buffalo", which was at the time still a private institution. The initial gift of $100,000 was for the purchase of what would become Townsend Hall and the remainder was to establish the university's first endowment, in her husband's name, to support the department.
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 School 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 1961, the Western New York nuclear research program was created. This 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 other government-run research labs, consequently, the programs performed in this facility were abandoned somewhat shortly after its inception. This reactor was decommissioned in 2005 with little fanfare due to material security concerns.
Acquisition by the SUNY system and second campus
The private University of Buffalo was purchased by and incorporated into the State University of New York (SUNY) system in 1962, and became known as the State University of New York at Buffalo. As a part of the agreement to merge the university into the SUNY system, the state began to build an extensive a second campus for the university. In 1964, the state acquired several hundred acres in the town of Amherst on the northeast of Buffalo, for development as a comprehensive campus for most of the non-medical disciplines at the University at Buffalo. This is often called the North Campus, and the center of most University at Buffalo activities. The North Campus project included several major buildings, dormitory complexes, a separate spur of the interstate highway, and a new lake. The undergraduate college, the law school, and graduate schools were all moved to the new campus. 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 1998â€"1999 academic year, the three schools were reunited to re-create the existing College of Arts and Sciences, when the faculties of Arts and Letters, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences and Mathematics were combined, according to a memorandum issued by the State University of New York.
Since 1989, UB has been a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. UB president Satish K. Tripathi serves on the AAU board of directors.
UB 2020
Started in 2004 under President John B. Simpson, UB 2020 is a strategic planning initiative to develop and implement a vision for the university over the next 15 years. 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 $1.7 billion are brought into the local economy from the presence of UB. This figure is also expected to rise by 40 percent, corresponding with UB's institutional growth.
One of the keys to helping UB achieve the goals of the UB 2020 plan, proponents say, is the passage of S2020 and A2020 known as the UB 2020 Flexibility and Economic Growth Act, by the New York State Legislature. On June 3, 2009, the State Senate passed S2020 and sent the bill to the Assembly for their consideration.
The current president, Satish K. Tripathi, has continued his vocal support of UB 2020 and has been actively engaging in campus-wide discussion on the proposed tuition increases introduced by the bill.
In 2011, the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences received an anonymous donation of $40 million from an alumnus who had graduated from the university during World War II. The donation will contribute to the $375 million project which will relocate the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to UB's downtown campus. The new school will be designed by HOK Architects.
From FY2011 to FY2012, UB had spent over $300 million on the strategic plan to construct and open four new buildings, including Davis Hall, William R. Greiner Residence Hall, the Clinical and Translational Research Center and Kaleida Health medical research building, and Crossroads Culinary Center.
On August 22, 2013, President Barack Obama came to UB's campus to give a speech about needed higher education reform in the country. President Obama highlighted UB's accolades and specifically chose Buffalo for its excellence and commitment to the future, graduation rates and retention, and quality education at an affordable price.
As of 2015 the UB 2020 initiative, Heart of the Campus will be implemented on each of UB's three campuses in phases. The new school of medicine is also being constructed with additional funding from the NYSUNY 2020 legislation and from a donation of $30 million.
Name
The university's official legal name is "State University of New York at Buffalo". The more commonly used name and the school's formal academic name is "University at Buffalo", informally "UB". This name is similar to the university's former name of over a 100 years, "University of Buffalo". The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York is the school's formal academic name that includes the SUNY modifier. Other names like "SUNY at Buffalo" and "Buffalo" are also commonly seen. The university's athletic department, particularly on uniforms use the name "Buffalo".
Administration and organization
Buffalo is a public university and is one of four university centers of the 64 campuses in the State University of New York (SUNY) which enrolled 467,991 students and employed 88,024 academic staff in 2014. SUNY is governed by a 17-member Board of Trustees, 15 of whom are appointed by the Governor of New York and the remaining two members being elected from the Student Assembly and University Faculty Senate. Carl McCall is the Chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees and Nancy L. Zimpher is the Chancellor of the SUNY system. Satish K. Tripathi was appointed by the SUNY Board of Trustees as the 15th president of the University at Buffalo in April 2011 after previously serving a six-year tenure as the UB provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. He receives compensation of $385,000, $115,000, and $150,000 annually from each of the university, SUNY Research Foundation, and the UB Foundation respectively. The University at Buffalo Foundation (UB Foundation) was chartered in 1962 as an independent non-profit corporation and is controlled by a privately appointed board of trustees. It serves as a vehicle to raise private funds for the university, develop real estate, and manage endowment investments on behalf of the university. The foundation managed a $685.2 million endowment for FY2011.
UB is organized into 13 academic schools and colleges.
- The School of Architecture and Planning is the only combined architecture and urban planning school in the State University of New York system and offers the only accredited professional master's degree in architecture and is one of two SUNY schools that offers an accredited professional master's degree in urban planning. In addition, the Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning also awards the original undergraduate four year pre-professional degrees in architecture and environmental design in the SUNY system. Other degree programs offered by the Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning include a research oriented Master of Science in Architecture with specializations in historic preservation/urban design, inclusive design, and computing and media technologies; a PhD in urban and regional planning; and, an advanced graduate certificate in historic preservation.
- The College of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1915 and is the largest and most comprehensive academic unit at UB with 25 academic departments, 12 academic programs, and 21 centers and institutes across the humanities, arts, and sciences.
- The School of Dental Medicine was founded in 1892 and offers accredited programs in DDS, oral surgery, and other oral sciences.
- The Graduate School of Education was founded in 1931 and is one of the largest graduate schools at UB. The school has four academic departments: counseling and educational psychology, educational leadership and policy, learning and instruction, and library and information science. In academic year 2008â€"2009, the Graduate School of Education awarded 472 master's degrees and 52 doctoral degrees.
- The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences was founded in 1946 and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in six departments. It is the largest public school of engineering in the state of New York.
- The School of Law was founded in 1887 and is the only law school in the SUNY system. The school awarded 265 JD degrees in the 2009â€"2010 academic year.
- The School of Management was founded in 1923 and offers AACSB-accredited undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral degrees.
- The School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is the founding faculty of the UB and began in 1846. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the biomedical and biotechnical sciences as well as a MD program and residencies.
- The School of Nursing was founded in 1936 and offers bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in nursing practice and patient care.
- The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences was founded in 1886, making it the second-oldest faculty at UB and the only pharmacy school in the SUNY system.
- The School of Public Health and Health Professions was founded in 2003 from the merger of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine and the UB School of Health Related Professions. The school offers a bachelor's degree in exercise science as well as professional, master's and PhD degrees.
- The School of Social Work offers graduate MSW and doctoral degrees in social work.
- The Roswell Park Graduate Division is an affiliated academic unit within the Graduate School of UB, in partnership with Roswell Park Cancer Institute, an independent NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Roswell Park Graduate Division offers five PhD programs and two MS programs in basic and translational biomedical research related to cancer. Roswell Park Cancer Institute was founded in 1898 by Dr. Roswell Park and was the world's first cancer research institute.
Academics
University at Buffalo is a large, public research university with very high research activity. The university has been accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education since 1921. In 2009, the university awarded 4,036 bachelor's degrees across 74 undergraduate programs, 2,076 master's degree across 190 programs, 367 doctoral degrees across 83 programs, and 609 professional degrees across 18 programs.
The State University of New York at Buffalo is often referred to as New York's public flagship university.
The four-year, full-time undergraduate program comprises the majority of enrollments at the university which emphasizes a balanced curriculum across the arts, sciences, and professions. The university enrolled 19,951 undergraduate and 9,855 graduate students in the fall of 2015. Women make up 48% of the student body and 78% of the student body is from the state of New York. 7,204 students live on-campus, 10,172 students live off campus, and 11,505 students commute; Despite this strikingly high number of commuters, over 70% of students live on campus their first year. Note: The term "off campus" includes students who live in the residential apartments within the campus perimeter. Undergraduate tuition, room & board, and fees for New York state residents for the 2011â€"2012 school year totals $18,681 and costs to out-of-state residents totals $27,461.
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.
Total R&D for the fiscal year of 2013 was at $360 million, ranking 61st, which is higher than that of Brown, Dartmouth, Tufts, and others. UB offered an early Computer Science major (distinct from a mathematics major). Additionally, UB played a significant role as a crucial internet hub for the eastern seaboard during the internet's inception.
University at Buffalo academic and professional faculty are represented by United University Professions. 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 Stony Brook University.
SUNY Buffalo is the biggest public university in New York and the fourth largest public university in the Northeastern United States, behind only Temple University, Pennsylvania State University, and Rutgers University.
Admissions
UB's admission is selective with high levels of transfer-in as well as rolling admission deadlines. The university received 21,985 applications for the Class of 2015, admitted 11,298 (51.4%), and matriculated 3,154 (27.9%). Among first year students, 35% graduated in the top tenth of their high school class and the inter-quartile range was 500â€"610 for SAT reading, 550â€"650 for SAT math, and 24â€"29 on the ACT composite. The class of 2014 included over 900 merit scholars and 320 honors college students. Within the honors college, the average combined math and reading SAT score was 1382, and high school grade average for the incoming class was 97%. UB received 6,107 transfer applicants, admitted 3,623, and enrolled 1,850.
Rankings and reputation
U.S. News and World Report's 2017 edition of America's Best Colleges ranked UB 99th on their list of "Best National Universities", and 43rd among public universities. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ranks UB 1st on their "Green Power List" of top colleges and universities. In the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education 2017 inaugural ranking of top colleges and universities, the University at Buffalo was ranked as the 1st best public university in New York and 28th best in the nation
The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is ranked 63rd. The School of Management is ranked 77th by U.S. News, 45th by Forbes and 47th by BusinessWeek, making UB the highest ranked public business school in New York. The School of Education at UB is well regarded, and is ranked 71st. The School of Public Health and Health Professions is ranked 31st, the School of Nursing is ranked 75th for masters, 38th for doctorate, with the anesthesia program ranking 10th in the nation. The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is ranked 22nd, the School of Social Work is ranked 27th, the School of law is ranked 100th. UB was ranked the 64th best college for veterans.
The audiology program is ranked 17th, rehabilitation counseling is ranked 21st, speech-language pathology is ranked 30th, English is ranked 44th, library and information studies is ranked 39th, math is 73rd, physics is 85th, fine arts is 69th, political science is 76th, history is 92nd, physical therapy is 79th, occupational therapy is 32nd, computer science is 63rd, chemistry is 76th, statistics is 70th, psychology is 63rd, and clinical psychology is ranked 50th.
U.S News ranking of best online programs ranks UB 21st in "Best Online Bachelor's Programs" and 10th in "Best Online Graduate Education Programs".
In the 2015â€"2016 edition of "World University Rankings", Times Higher Education ranked UB at 191. US News and Report ranked the university 181 on their "Best Global Universities" ranking. College magazine ranked SUNY Buffalo #4 in the "best campuses for out-of-state students". In Kiplinger's "Best Values in Public Colleges" of 2012, the University at Buffalo ranks 38th in the nation for in-state students and 27th in the nation for out-of-state students. In 2015, SUNY Buffalo was ranked #15 in New York State by average professor salaries.
Libraries
UB has nine libraries on its North (Amherst), South (Buffalo), and Downtown (Buffalo) campuses. The libraries' 3.8 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.
Campuses
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. The Sustainable Endowments Institute's College Sustainability Report Card awarded the university a B+. UB was awarded the EPA "Environmental Champion Award" in 2015 and is ranked as one of the top 50 "green colleges and universities" in the nation, working towards becoming climate neutral by 2030.
North Campus
The North Campus, a census-designated place also called "University at Buffalo", located in the suburb of Amherst, began in the 1970s. Many academic programs, including the entirety of the undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, the University at Buffalo Law School, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the School of Management, 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.
The North Campus is home to administrative and academic offices. The main buildings are arranged along one academic "spine", a second floor connecting corridor, that connects most of the main academic buildings. The whole campus 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. 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. When originally built by the state of New York, the North Campus was provided with two Interstate exits, from I-290 and I-990, its own internal parkway, the John James Audubon Parkway, and two small lakes created from Ellicott Creek. As a census-designated place, the residential population recorded at the 2010 census was 6,066.
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 University at Buffalo Stadium, the 30,000 seat football stadium.
South Campus
The South Campus, also known as the Main Street campus, located on 154 acres (0.62 km2) in North Buffalo, is 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). The college was designed by architect E.B. Green in 1910, and was intended to resemble Trinity College, Dublin. Its 53 buildings contain (3,045,198 sq ft (282,908 m2)) and include six resident halls. This campus is served by the northernmost subway station on Buffalo's Niagara Frontier Metro Rail system.
Today, the South Campus is home to the School of Pharmacy, Dental School, and the School of Architecture and Urban Planning. The Medical School is currently in the process of moving from South Campus to the new Downtown Campus in Buffalo. 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. 20 percent of UB's resident population also continues to live in the original residential complexes located on the South (Main Street) Campus.
Downtown Campus
In 2002, UB commissioned Boston firm Chan Krieger to create a third campus center. The Downtown Campus is the site of 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 as well as the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute to compose the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus. The medical campus, which is designed to meet LEED Silver criteria, incorporates high efficiency lighting, heat recovery systems, and an EnergyStar roof.
Also located in the downtown area is UB's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA), Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) 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)).
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.
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.
UB art galleries
UB is home to two university art galleries, the UB Anderson Art Gallery and the UB Art Gallery at the Center for the Arts. Adjacent to the UB South Campus is the UB Anderson Art Gallery, a converted elementary school with an all-glass atrium exhibit space. The UB Anderson Gallery hosts exhibitions curated by faculty and visiting curators and features works from international and professional artist in its two floor facility. The UB Anderson Gallery building, along with over 1,200 works of art, was donated to the University in 2000 by collector and gallery owner David K. Anderson, son of legendary New York gallerist Martha Jackson. Selections from the personal collection of Martha Jackson that was donated to the UB Anderson Gallery by David Anderson are on display in a 360 degree permanent installation in the Martha Jackson Gallery Archives and Research Center, on the second floor of the gallery.
The UB Art Gallery at the Center for the Arts is located on the north campus, and features works from contemporary artists, as well as faculty and students across disciplines.
Comprehensive Physical Plan
The University at Buffalo has grown to an enrollment of approximately 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and a staff of 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.
Student life
Associations and activities
UB has two student-run periodicals: The Spectrum and Generation magazine. Both publications are distributed on campus. The Spectrum is the only independent publication. Generation is funded by advertising and through Sub-Board I, the student services corporation. UB also has a student radio station, WRUB. WRUB broadcasts all UB home football games and select road games, as well as most UB men's and women's home basketball games.
After the retirement of John B. Simpson, the undergraduate students have also developed a university forum with the hopes of developing a thriving online campus. This move was supported by now incumbent president Satish K Tripathi who called it a "model of University spirit and entrepreneurship".
The UB Student Alumni Association (UBSAA) annually hosts the world's largest collegiate mud-volleyball game known as "Oozefest". 192 teams of at least six students compete in a double elimination volleyball tournament at "The Mud Pit" each Spring before finals. 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.
Held annually since 1991 has been the Linda Yalem Safety Run, formerly called the Linda Yalem Memorial Run. Linda Yalem was a sophomore at UB who was studying communications and training for the New York City Marathon when she was raped and killed by Altemio Sanchez after going for a run on the Ellicott Creek Bike Path on September 29, 1990. The Run is held every year in her memory and to promote safety for runners.
In 1923, an honorary senior society called Bisonhead was founded. It has since represented twelve undergraduate leaders at UB each year.
Many of UB's clubs are run through the Undergraduate Student Association and the Graduate Student Association, with each level requiring respective senate recognition for clubs.
Student housing
Student residence halls are located on both the North and South Campuses. On the North Campus, there is the Ellicott Complex, which consists of Fargo, Porter, Red Jacket, Richmond, Spaulding, and Wilkeson Quadrangles. The Ellicott Complex is also known as "Lego Land" because the shapes of the buildings resemble Legos stacked upon each other. Next to Fargo Quad is the newly built in 2011 Greiner Hall, a dorm strictly for sophomores. Also on North Campus is the Governors Complex, home to the Freshman Honors Housing and various other living communities. There are also off-campus housing options close to the north campus such as The Triad Apartments.
On South Campus is Goodyear and Clement Hall. The unique aspect of these dorms is that residents share a bathroom with the adjacent room, rather than have a communal bathroom. Up until Spring of 2011, there were four other dorm buildings, referred to as "The Quad": MacDonald, Pritchard, Schoellkopf, and Michael Hall. Michael Hall currently exists as the Student Health Center, the other three are not in use.
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. University Village at Sweethome, Villas at Rensch, and Villas at Chestnut Ridge are student apartment communities adjacent to the North Campus and offer a shuttle service. Collegiate Village off campus apartments offers transportation to both North and South Campus. 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.
Athletics
The school's sports teams are known as the Buffalo Bulls, or UB Bulls. The women's teams were originally called the Buffalo Royals. The Bulls currently play in Division I (Division I FBS of the NCAA in football), and are a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) for all sports except women's rowing, which is in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The Bulls have been a member of the Mid-American Conference since 1998.
The Buffalo Bulls field 11 men's and women's athletic teams in sports, although only nine team sports for both men and women are identified on the official website. Men's team sports at UB include those in football, basketball, track and field, baseball, wrestling, soccer, swimming and diving, cross country, and tennis. The Bulls' women's teams feature basketball, track and field, cross country, volleyball, softball, soccer, rowing, tennis, and swimming and diving. Cheerleading is co-ed. The Bulls have had dozens of athletes turn professional in football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and volleyball.
The mascot of UB's athletic teams is Victor E. Bull, a blue bull with a gold nose ring. 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. Buffalo has three fight songs: "Victory March", "Go for a Touchdown", and "Buffalo Fight Song".
In March 2005 the men's basketball team reached the Mid-American Conference Championship game, but lost 79â€"80 to the Ohio Bobcats, thus missing a chance for their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. In 2015 the bulls won their conference championship game, and won the MAC Tournament, making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. In 2016 the men's basketball team once again won the MAC championship game, making their second trip to the NCAA Tournament in a row. The women's basketball team also won the MAC and made their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history.
The rowing program is an associate member of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Women's Rowing team won the CAA championship in April 2010 for the first time. In May 2010, the team won the Jack & Nancy Seitz Women's Point Trophy at the Dad Vail Regatta for the third year in a row. In 2015 UB's men track and field star, Jonathan Jones, became the first national champion in UB's Division I history when he won the shot put at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
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 when they won the MAC championship against previously undefeated Ball State.
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 first two 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). James Starks was on the Green Bay Packers Super Bowl XLV champions as a rookie. Ramon Guzman played on the 2009 Grey Cup champion Montreal Alouettes. Khalil Mack was selected as the 1st round 5th pick in the NFL draft, becoming Buffalo's first, first round draft pick. Branden Oliver has also risen to fame in the 2014 season as the running back for the Chargers.
Notable alumni and faculty
UB hails over 230,000 alumni who live in over 130 countries in the world. Among the individuals who have attended, graduated, or taught at the University are NASA astronauts Gregory Jarvis and Ellen S. Baker, Emmy-winning American journalist Wolf Blitzer, Chairman and former CEO of A+E Networks Abbe Raven, CEO of Paramount Pictures Brad Grey, billionaire and CEO of Baidu Robin Li, Pulitzer Prize-winner Tom Toles, Nobel Prize-winners, Ronald Coase, Herbert A. Hauptman and Sir John Carew Eccles, and winners of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, Norman McCombs, Wilson Greatbach, and Erich Bloch. Billionaire and owner of the Boston Bruins, Jeremy Jacobs, physicist Mendel Sachs, musician and civil rights activist Charles Mingus, pianist and composer Richard Aaker Trythall, civil engineer, genealogist and author Angelo F. Coniglio, scholar of medieval religion Carolyn Muessig, creator of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer client Bram Cohen, National Public Radio personalities Terri Gross and Ira Flatow, and American actor, director, and producer Ron Silver. Amongst the athletes who have graduated from the University are football players Gerry Philbin, Naaman Roosevelt, Branden Oliver, Khalil Mack and James Starks along with soccer player Bobby Shuttleworth. Khalil Mack was drafted by the Raiders fifth overall in the 2014 NFL Draft. Mack holds the all-time NCAA record for forced fumbles and is also tied for career tackles for loss in the NCAA. In 2015, he became the first first-team All-Pro in NFL history to be elected in two different positions in the same year, as a defensive end and outside linebacker. Mack was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year for the 2016 season.
Over the years, the University at Buffalo has also been particularly distinguished in contemporary creative writing. Noted novelists who have taught on its faculty include John Barth, Raymond Federman and Anthony Burgess. Noted faculty poets include George Starbuck (1983 Lenore Marshall Prize), Charles Olson, Robert Creeley (Bollingen Prize 1999), John Logan, (Lenore Marshall Prize 1982), Irving Feldman (MacArthur Foundation Fellow 1992), Carl Dennis (2000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize; 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry), Robert Hass (Poet Laureate of the United States 1995â€"97, 2007 National Book Award, 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry), Charles Bernstein (co-founder of the University's notable Poetics Program), Steve McCaffery, and Susan Howe (Bollingen Prize 2011). Former UB students include Michael Casey (Yale Younger Poets Award), Tony Petrosky (Walt Whitman Award), Donald Revell (2004 Lenore Marshall Prize), Charles Baxter, Michael Davidson, and, from the Poetics Program, Elizabeth Willis, Peter Gizzi, Juliana Spahr, Jena Osman, and Yunte Huang.
Political leaders who have attended and taught at the University include the 13th President of the United States and 12th Vice President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, the 9th President and 21st Prime Minister of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, and the Minister of Education of the People's Republic of China, Zhou Ji. Alumni have also served in the United States House of Representatives, including former Congress Members Jack Quinn and the late William F. Walsh. Other lawmakers, such as New York State Assembly Member Joseph Giglio and former New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco, are also UB graduates.
References
Notes
External links
- Official website
- UB Athletics website