When and where were you born?
I was born in Long Island, New York in 1945. That would make me a Taurus.What University did you attend and what was your major?
I attended Cornell University and majored in Political Science and completed my studies elsewhere.
Do you have any advice for the new freshman class?
I think that they should remember that they are here to get an education and that the education is primarily in the classroom but it is not exclusively there. This is the most diverse campus in all of America and they should take advantage of that because that is a huge benefit. They get to meet students from many different backgrounds and this is part of the launching pad for their adult life.
Surely you’ve read the article in the Connecticut Post dated on September
20th entitled “UB Slowly Climbs Out of Hole”. Do you feel the article
depicted our school and financial situation in a negative light?
In November the university will be undergoing a reevaluation for the first
time in six years. We have so much that we have accomplished in these past six years to be proud of. I don’t really feel that the article was balanced because sometimes what is written in print tries to discount what the accomplishments are for the city and the governors. There weren’t specific numbers that are inaccurate but a picture tells a thousand words and there were two pictures in the paper. One of a building we don’t even own and the other is one that hasn’t been used in ten years. I do admit we have a lot of work to do but we’ve been doing it one step at a time and they didn’t show any of that in the article. I don’t think it was balanced because even though we are struggling we are coming out of the hole and they are acknowledging it.
In the Post’s article you were quoted to have said that in recent
fundraising efforts UB has “topped $600,000”. What kind of changes could we expect to see within the university by the end of this year?
In this past year we’ve had a 40% increase in alumni who have donated to the University. As we build up some momentum, all of our money, now that we are financially independent, goes to improving our facilities or to raising faculty salaries, which is another important priority. We have a lot of work to do but I’m proud of the way the community has held together and worked on our priorities. Actually it’s funny because the reporter of the article is an alumni from back in the 70’s and she said that if we beet the UCONN basketball team then she would make a donation so I told her to bring her check book because we’re gonna win!