A WALK IN THE WOODS - University at Buffalo

from the presidentPresident Tripathi greets Zhou Ji, PhD’85 & MS ’82, head of China’s Academyof Engineering, in Beijing, March 2012.tHIS MAY, in New York City, we celebrated the grandfinale of the UB 2020 alumni tour. This tour has beenan incredible experience for my wife Kamlesh and me.Over a span of 20 months, we covered nearly 100,000miles, meeting more than 1,700 alumni in 22 citiesacross the United States and overseas. I wanted to sharejust a few examples of what I’ve discovered about ourUB alumni throughout our travels.My first observation: No matter how far away ourUB alumni may live, there is a part of them that thinksof Buffalo as home.This was evident again and again—from Los Angeles,where I was greeted with the latest Bills score and thatday’s Buffalo News headlines, to an alumni receptionin Kuala Lumpur, where I overheardTo watch a video on the tour and seetwo groups of Malaysian alumni in aevent photos, go to www.buffalo.heated debate over which are better:edu/president/2020tour.Anchor Bar wings or Duff’s wings?And while a piece of Buffalo remains in the heart ofevery UB alum, UB graduates clearly are also deeplyconnected to the world. Over the past 20 months, I’vetalked with Buffalo alumni working with Latin Americanrefugees; alumni expandingChinese language education inWestern New York; and industry1,700 alumni, 22 cities, 20 months, and 100,000 miles laterleaders whose global expertise prepared them to leadenterprises in Puerto Rico, Shanghai and Singapore. Allthese graduates told me it was their experiences at UBthat equipped them for leadership in a global world.Finally, we witnessed how deeply our alumni careabout putting their UB education to work for the publicgood. Again and again, our alumni told me how they usetheir UB education to “give back.” In Chicago, I heardthat phrase from a bilingual educator telling me abouther work with young people in the city. In Florida, Iheard it from a nursing alumna who has spent over halfa century devoted to patient care. In Seoul, one of ouralumni used the same expression to talk about her worktranslating Korean literature and preserving her culturalheritage.Every time I hear our alumni proudly talking aboutthe unique and meaningful ways they give back, I amstruck by how many different ways there are to achieveour one core mission as a public research university—to make the world around us a better place.The tour may be over, but the acquaintances wemade are just the beginning of what I hope will be longand lasting relationships. To all of our alumni, thankyou for all that you do, every day, to strengthen andinspire our UB community around the world.Satish K. Tripathi, Presidentwww.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Fall 2013 3