News Library
WILLIAM GREINER
Published on January 16, 2003
© The Buffalo News Inc.
The departure of University at Buffalo President William Greiner from the post he has held for the past dozen years signals an end to a presidency that was good not only for UB but good for this community. While the university faces critical decisions in finding a replacement, it benefits from solid progress under Greiner's guidance.
Greiner was a relatively low-key leader, perhaps too low-key. He never took full advantage of the bully pulpit for the university. But those who monitor education matters here said he commanded attention in Albany, where battles over funding and policies are fought. He proved an able champion for the university, maintaining a strong building program and developing UB's national reputation by fostering programs in both academics and athletics. His greatest strength, though, may have been the melding of town and gown that took place during his tenure. Greiner integrated the university into the community, through research partnerships and leadership studies that started or blossomed during his tenure. UB became much more a community resource than a community adjunct under his leadership. That integration has been reflected in everything from computerized virtual-reality "fly-bys" of various Peace Bridge designs to the work of UB-based centers on regional governance, Great Lakes science and other aspects of life in this region. No presidential record is ever completed until long after the time in office, and Greiner leaves with key projects, including a $300 million housing, retail and service complex for the Amherst-based North Campus, still in the planning stages. The Division I-A football team he promoted, playing in a new stadium built to accommodate the World University Games events he hosted at UB, still hasn't produced a winner. And the Buffalo-based South Campus, which critics contend he neglected, needs neighborhood-bolstering attention. Greiner, who has been professor, provost or president at UB for the past 35 years, succeeded a dynamic former president, Steven Sample, in 1991. He never seemed to escape Sample's shadow. As state support for SUNY dwindled in the '90s, some critics said the university under Greiner's leadership failed to reach the promise of Sample's vision to make UB one of the top public universities in the country. There is no denying, though, that Greiner - who intends to return to the UB Law School as a professor - kept Albany's attention on the needs of his university, and made sure that attention led to money for UB projects. One of those projects, the Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics, could become a key to Western New York's future. UB's newly enhanced Center for Computational Research recently was ranked as one of the most powerful computing centers in the world, and the related bioinformatics computer array may prove even more powerful. Greiner's own current provost, Bioinformatics Center champion Elizabeth Capaldi, has to be a strong candidate to replace him. The presidency presents a strong challenge, as state support becomes increasingly threatened by a struggling economy. It will take intense effort and extensive skill to craft a program of continued growth in a time of budgetary cutbacks. UB's continued partnership with its home region, though, will remain vital. Greiner fostered that partnership, and deserves this community's thanks.<
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