Timeline of UB History
1984-present
Greg Jarvis
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1984
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- April hails the first Oozfest, the University's annual mud volleyball tournament, hosted by the University's Student Alumni Board (USAB). By 2004 it is known as one of the largest collegiate mud volleyball tournaments in the United States involving over 1,000 players and volunteers.
- UB was awarded the contract for the first MBA program to be offered in China.
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1985
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- Astronaut and UB Alumnus Greg Jarvis gives the commencement address at the 1985 graduation ceremony.
- The first presentation of the J. Scott Fleming Merit Award to recognize full-time undergraduate and graduate students whose volunteer and leadership efforts have helped promote student involvement at UB and have enhanced the student experience
through their extracurricular work.
- Comedian Bob Carroll "tickled UB with his wit" on October 10th and 11th
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1986
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- Alexander H. Flax (PhD, 1958), an aeronautical engineer, receives the first Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Award, which is awarded to a graduate of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, or a graduate in one of the natural sciences or mathematics disciplines within the College of Arts and Sciences, who has distinguished himself/herself in a field of science, thereby bringing honor to the University.
- On January 28th, UB alumnus Gregory Jarvis (BA, 1967) perishes in the Challenger disaster. The UB flag that he intended to bring into space with him, fluttered out of the destroyed shuttle unscathed and is now housed in the University Archives. Jarvis was awarded the Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Award posthumously in 1999.
- UB is awarded a 5-year $25 million from the National Science Foundation to establish the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (now MCEER, the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research). This was the University's first national research center.
- Edgar Heap of Birds, a major Native American artist, has a one-month residency at UB during which he conducted master classes, gave lectures, and conducted an exhibit.
- The Great Lakes Program is established with the help of then New York State Assemblymen, John B. Sheffer II and William B. Hoyt. Housed within the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, the Great Lakes Program is a center for research, education, and outreach activities related to the Great Lakes ecosystem.
- South Campus Metro Station opens on November 12th.
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1987
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- The Center for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE) is founded to promote economic development in the region by leveraging University resources that can help industry improve productivity and bottom-line performance.
- The New York State Center for Hazardous Waste Management is established by New York State Law to initiate and coordinate research and development in the area of toxic substances and hazardous wastes.
- UB's Distinguished Speakers Series is launched. Sam Donaldson, ABC News Chief White House Correspondent, John Tower, US Senator, and Geraldine Ferraro, the first female vice presidential candidate on a national party ticket, are all invited to speak during the academic year.
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1988
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- A National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA-Buffalo) is founded as a National Science Foundation center for research in geographic information and its related technologies. It is one of only three such centers in the United States. The University at Buffalo has been involved in geographic information science research since the 1970s.
- In December, UB student Gregory Capasso was killed while returning home from a semester abroad in the Pan Am Flight 103 tragedy. A memorial plaque was installed in the Student Activities Center during its opening festivities
- Poet Stanley Kunitz speaks at the University on November 16th.
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1989
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- Professor Robert Creeley is named poet laureate of New York State
- UB is elected to membership in the Association of American Universities.
- UB begins negotiations leading to the landmark exchange agreement with the Jagiellonian University in Poland.
- On July 31st, eight years after the dedication of Slee Hall, the much anticipated C.B. Fisk Organ is delivered. The music department started planning and saving for the organ in 1964.
- Former faculty member and Nobel-prize winning author, J.M. Coetzee is awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.
- Renowned composer Philip Glass is awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Music.
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1990
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- The School of Architecture and Planning celebrates its "Coming of Age" (21st Anniversary).
- UB Alumnus Wolf Blitzer (BA, 1970) joins CNN as the network's military-affairs correspondent at the Pentagon.
- The University Libraries launches BISON, Buffalo Information System ONline, the Library's online public access catalog.
- Noted jazz trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis is awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Music.
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1991
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1992
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- The addition to the Student Activities Center (SAC) on the North Campus is completed and officially opens as the new Student Union. There has not been a student union at the University since Squire Hall closed February 26, 1982 (see collection 8/8/975).
- Well-known pop-artist, Marisol Escobar is awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts
- On September 18th, William R. Greiner is inaugurated as UB's 13th President.
- Poet, literary critic and novelist, Raymond Federman is appointed the Melodia E. Jones Chair of Literature. Federman first began teaching in the French Department in 1964 and then taught in the English Department in 1973. He retired in 1999.
- In December, President Greiner appoints Muriel A. Moore (later Muriel A. Howard) UB's first female vice president. Moore would serve as the Vice President for Public Service and Urban Affairs until she was appointed as Buffalo State College's first woman president in 1996.
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1993
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- The Office of Public Service and Urban Affairs is established to coordinate the resources of academic and administrative units with those of the larger community in order to pursue creative solutions to a wide range of economic and social problems. The creation of this office at the vice-presidential level is a first for a United States university.
- The new UB Stadium (completed in the summer of 1993 with seating for 16,500) provides facilities for the 1993 World University Games.
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1994
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- Both the $59 million Natural Sciences and Mathematics Complex and the Center for the Arts (a $41.8 million facility, housing four theatres, which includes a 1,820-seat auditorium and a screening room, as well as two art galleries, sound studios, and Art, Media Studies, and Theatre and Dance departments) are opened on North Campus.
- The Malaysian Student Association (MASA) was established in 1994. It was disorganized in early 1995, but re-established in March of 1996.
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1995
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- UB enrolls 25,000 students, offers almost 300 degree programs at the baccalaureate, master's, doctoral, and professional level and has an operating budget of almost $600 million, with some 4,500 associated full-time positions. It is one of Western NY's leading employers.
- The Buffalo Chips, a male student a capella group, is formed.
- The University establishes an exchange program with the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.
- The School of Architecture and Planning celebrates its 25th Anniversary.
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1996
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1997
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1998
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- The Center for Excellence in Global Enterprise Management was established to deliver leading-edge research driven by industrial need with results that have immediate practical impact.
- On July 1st, the College of Arts and Sciences is reestablished at the University to focus on undergraduate education. Kerry S. Grant, the last dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters, is appointed the first dean of the new College of Arts and Sciences.
- Flickinger Court, the first of five student living complexes on North Campus, is dedicated.
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1999
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- In January, the Center for Computational Research (CCR), one of the world's leading supercomputing sites, is established at the University.
- The University establishes an exchange program with Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia
- George Voskerchian receives the first Russell J. Gugino Award, which recognizes UB alumni (an individual, couple, or group) who have made significant contributions of time and resources to the university's athletic programs.
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2000
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- The New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII) is founded in June within SEAS to provide state-of-the-art technologies and expertise that will enable New York State industry to achieve a greater degree of competitiveness.
- January, David K. Anderson, a New York City art dealer, donated to UB the Anderson Gallery building and established a $2 million trust to assist with exhibitions and the upkeep of the gallery.
- In December, the first Panasci Entrepreneurial Award, endowed by Henry A. Panasci, Jr. and awarded through the School of Management's Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, is awarded to teammates Eric Reich, Michael Weisman, Karen Woodman, and Matthew Worden of Triad College Market Research Group.
- Elizabeth D. Capaldi is appointed the first female provost on July 7th. While Provost, she is the highest ranking female at UB.
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2001
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- Victoria S. Bull joins Victor E. Bull as one of UB's mascots. Although she was introduced at the "Rockin' Rally 2001" on August 24th, her first game appearance was August 30 at the football team's home opener against Rutgers.
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2002
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- Joseph S. Mattina receives the first Community Leadership Medal, which is presented in recognition of and in appreciation for outstanding accomplishments in making our university community a better place to live and work.
- Beginning June 15, the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education (GSE) offers a 36-credit hour Master of Education Degree in School Counseling through Singapore's Center for American Education (CAE) in Singapore
- On April 8th, Carl Dennis, professor of English at the University at Buffalo, is named recipient of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his eighth collection of poems, "Practical Gods."
- April 23 is UB Day in Washington. According to former UB President, William Griener, "UB Day in Washington [allowed] us to share the progress we've made with the Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and to thank our legislative supporters for their outstanding efforts in helping us bring it to fruition, as well as giving us an opportunity to outline how continued strong federal support will help us move this initiative forward in the year ahead."
- Donald L. and Esther P. Davis receive the first Dr. Philip B. Wels Award, which is given to individuals and groups that have contributed to and advanced the University at Buffalo for a specific purpose, or served UB in a voluntary capacity for a significant period of time.
- The much-hailed Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics is created at UB with state, federal, and private grant funding. Bioinformatics, the newly developed science that applies computational approaches to biology, in particular to the genome wide identification and prediction of the function of the proteins and their corresponding DNA and RNA molecules, will play a major role in making this vision a reality. The Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, COE, of the University at Buffalo is poised to be a central player in this emerging revolution in biology.
- Christian Bok, Canadian conceptual and sound poet and postdoctoral fellow in UB's Poetics Program, is named one of two winners of the second annual Griffin Poetry Prize, Canada's most prestigious literary prize and a major international literary award.
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2003
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- June is the International 'Frontiers in Bioinformatics' Symposium held by UB Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics. This was one of the first conferences in the world to explore collaborative approaches to structural genomics, evolutionary genomics and large-scale simulations of genome annotation.
- The University establishes the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS).
- WBFO 88.7 FM, the National Public Radio affiliate operated by the University at Buffalo, completes its most successful fall membership drive, raising more than $250,000.
- Bill Cosby speaks as part of UB's Distinguished Speakers Series (because high winds made flying into Buffalo a near impossibility, Cosby changed his plans to drive instead so as not to have to cancel his appearance).
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2004
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- John B. Simpson becomes the University's 14th President on January 1st.
- Two renowned actors of Japanese Noh theater -- Hatta Tatsuya of Tokyo and Fukano Shinjiro of Kyoto -- performed and taught the elements of the 600-year-old theatrical form during a weeklong Noh residency at UB in February.
- Joyce Carol Oates lectures on March 2 as part of the Distinguished Speakers Series.
- On September 24th President Simpson launches "UB 2020," the stratgic planning campaign for the University as a whole.
- The University at Buffalo Bulls basketball team had an extraordinary 2004-2005 season. With a school-record 23 wins, UB finished the season with more overall wins than any other school in the Mid-American Conference. The Bulls made it to the finals of the MAC Tournament for the first time in school history.
Head coach Reggie Witherspoon was subsequently named the 2005 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District I Co-Coach of the Year.
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2005
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- The University at Buffalo Bulls mens basketball team has an extraordinary 2004-2005 season. With a school-record 23 wins, UB finishes the season with more overall wins than any other school in the Mid-American Conference. The Bulls make it to the finals of the MAC Tournament for the first time in school history. Head coach Reggie Witherspoon was subsequently named the 2005 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District I Co-Coach of the Year.
- On March 30th, world-renowned poet Robert Creeley dies at the age of 78. The University holds a memorial service celebrating his life, work, and 37 years of service to the University.
- On April 26th the Alfiero Center of the University at Buffalo's School of Management is formally dedicated today. It is the first academic facility at UB, and one of only a few in the State University of New York system, to be funded primarily through private donations. Gifts from more than 150 alumni, friends, foundations and corporations provided the majority of the funding for the $7 million center. It was named for Sal and Jeanne Alfiero, who provided a $2 million gift for the three-story student center on UB's North Campus.
- In July three of the 17 winning predictor teams from the Sixth Community Wide Experiment on the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) are from the University at Buffalo. It was unprecedented for three of the winning teams to be from the same institution.
- In the wake of Hurricane Katrina UB opens its doors to students from four schools in New Orleans that had to suspend classes due to damage from the hurricane. These "visiting" students include five undergraduates from Tulane University, three from the University of New Orleans, and one from Xavier University, as well as two Tulane students and a student from Loyola University who are attending the UB Law School.
- On September 29th the University Libraries opens a major exhibit highlighting the University's extensive rare books collection. The exhibit also celebrates the completion of the rare books cataloging project making the collection accessible through both BISON and the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC).
- On November 14th the University at Buffalo ranks 11th among 2,700 U.S. accredited universities in international student enrollment, according to an annual report on international academic mobility released by the Institute of International Education.
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2006
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- The fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, delivers a major address on the theme of promoting peace across borders through education as part of the 2006-2007 Distinguished Speakers Series on September 18-20th. The visit included audiences with UB students and faculty, an interfaith service with representatives from the local religious communities, and the main address where Hi Holiness was awarded a State University of New York honorary doctorate in humane letters.
- In the fall, President Simpson traveled to Asia twice. In September he was part of a delegation to commemorate the 25th anniversary of UB's exchange programs with three universities in Beijing. In November, he returned to Asia, this time traveling as part of a delegation led by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who invited twelve U.S. higher education leaders to accompany her on a history-making educational development trip to Japan, Korea, and China.
- The University at Buffalo moves up to No. 10 among 2,700 accredited U.S. universities in international enrollment, according to an annual report released by the Institute of International Education (IIE).
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