Over the past two years, UB has invested $400,000 in an alumni engagement and fundraising tour. The tour has raised over $8.9 million - over 22 times more than the investment.
And it's not over.
UB President Satish Tripathi has traveled to nine states and four countries on the tour. Tripathi, who was inaugurated as UB's 15th president in Sept. 2011, has completed 19 stops of his "UB Presidential Tour for UB Alumni: 20 Cities in 20 Months" expedition to date.
Though Alumni Relations considers this tour to be a "huge success," some UB community members wonder if Tripathi's time is best spent reaching out to alumni away from campus.
"Why is President Tripathi going around the world soliciting money from wealthy potential donors, rather than teaming up with other SUNY presidents, with faculty and professional and staff unions and with the citizens and owners of SUNY to lobby Albany for a decent level of public support for the university?" said James Holstun, an English professor, in an email. "Doesn't this move UB even further away from a public university and toward something that the wealthy feel they own?"
The tour, which is organized and funded by the Office of Alumni Relations and sponsored by the Alumni Association, serves as Tripathi's welcome to the UB community and his first greeting to the almost 220,000 UB alumni worldwide - the largest constituency of UB stakeholders. Tripathi aims to share what's happening on campus - namely the progress of UB 2020 and UB's plans for the future of the university.
Second, the tour serves an engine for fundraising, something that the university feels is imperative to its success.
The tour began on Sept. 30, 2011, just 15 days after Tripathi's official presidential investiture. He has traveled everywhere from the other side of New York State to the West Coast in California and across borders and seas to China, Malaysia and South Korea. He will have traveled to 22 cities in 20 months by the "grand finale," which will be held in New York City on May 15.
The Spectrum asked 700 students about their views of the president. Forty-one percent didn't know his name, and 56 percent felt they were not informed enough to know if Tripathi has done his job well since he's been in office. Twenty-five percent said he was not doing a good job during his tenure.
Almost 82 percent said they don't feel Tripathi's presence on UB's campus, and 77 percent believed they should.
Student Association President Travis Nemmer gives Tripathi a "solid B" rating of Tripathi's presidency thus far.
"Overall, the university's been running pretty smoothly, and we haven't had any major crises like the financial aid screw up last year," Nemmer said. "His job is to manage the big picture, not the nitty details of each department on campus. I'd like to see more direction in UB 2020.We haven't seen that comprehensive of a plan yet or a timeline, and some of the proposed ideas don't have their homework adequately done.
"God knows we've seen worse. Don't let perfect become the enemy of good."
Other students think Tripathi is around more than they notice, and he does a good job of getting out into the campus community.
"Personally, I think Tripathi really does make an effort to be around for students," said Daniel Ovadia, the student representative for the UB Council. "I just went to the Academies' entrepreneurship talk and he was there. Last week, he was interacting with students at the Celebration of Academic Excellence quite a bit before the program, and it's not uncommon to see him walking around the Spine - and even eating in the Union."
Martha McCluskey, a law professor, agrees with Holstun, and she worries expansive fundraising tours take away from a president's first concern - his performance on campus and within the community surrounding the university. She added many UB faculty members and students must pay for work-related travel with their own money.
"Many UB faculty and students must pay out of their own pocket without reimbursement for work-related travel that is essentially a requirement for scholarship and teaching careers today, and that arguably similarly leverages funds for UB (research grants, books and especially reputation)," McCluskey said. "Shouldn't that academic travel get support if we are to be a top research university?"
Nancy Wells, the vice president for Development and Alumni Relations, disagrees with the faculty concern.
"I think it would be a mistake to think that President Tripathi has spent time on this tour at the exclusion of spending time interacting with stakeholders in Western New York," Wells said. "I believe he's done both very effectively."
Jim Militello, a UB alum from '79 and leader for the Washington, D.C., Alumni Association chapter, attended the D.C. tour stop on April 18, 2012. Militello was a commuter student during his time at UB and never felt connected to the campus. About 15 years ago, he was invited to an alumni event and it "rejuvenated" his relationship with his alma mater. He's since made an effort to be involved in what goes on in Western New York, even though he moved away after graduation.
"I think [presidential tours are] imperative," he said. "You have to go to the pockets around the country and seize what is a significant alumni base. If this university is going to go forward with this vision of 2020, if it's going to be significant, you have to get out of Western New York. I think UB's role, particularly in the revitalization of Western New York economics, is significant and people have to know it. I think even if the cost isn't worth it, I think there is an obligation for the president to get out there and engage the alumni."
***
The university planned the UB 2020 tour soon after Tripathi was confirmed as president in April 2011, according to Wells. Tripathi, who made a goal to expand UB on a global level, is interested in engaging alumni and reconnecting with those who may have lost touch with Western New York, she said. And because UB has such a large alumni base - the largest of the four SUNY University Centers (Albany, Stony Brook and Binghamton are the others) - Tripathi's first order of business as president was to get out and connect with the university's largest investor group and spread the message of UB 2020 set by his predecessor, John Simpson, who retired in Jan. 2011.
His plan includes traveling internationally. UB has ties to institutions across Asia, and most international alumni live in cities throughout the continent, Wells said. Because of the desire for alumni engagement and the desire to attract more international students, Tripathi traveled to Asia five times during the tour.
"You only get to be new once," Wells said. "And it's special for alums - you want to meet your president. You want people to come out. I think [the 2020 tour name] was because it was kind of clever. It made sense. If you look at where our alums are and said, 'pick X number of cities,' and you're going to go where the most alums are, we found that it kind of worked out."
These types of tours, however, are not unique to UB - especially when presidents are new to campus, according to Rae Goldsmith, the vice president for Advancement Resources for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
CASE is a professional association that helps universities and other educational institutions build stronger connections with their alumni and donors.
Some reasons Goldsmith helps institutions set up visits include: a new president, a new fundraising campaign, when there's a particular message or program alumni should be aware of and circuits that are scheduled every year as a part of an institution's outreach plan.
"For the university, it means that you're reinforcing or building engagement with people who are very important to your future success," Goldsmith said. "And all of that kind of visibility sets the tone for future support, whether it's advocacy or financial.
"Often fundraising is an underlying goal, but it's not the tour itself that leads to the fundraising. The tour leads to engagement and engagement leads to fundraising."
When planning the 2020 tour, UB also looked at Boston College in Massachusetts, which has been running its current fundraising campaign, "Light the World," since 2006. The tour, which attempts to engage BC's 170,000 alums, aims to raise $1.5 billion, according to John Freudo, the associate vice president for Alumni Relations at BC.
To date, BC has raised over $1 billion and has engaged more volunteers than ever before, according to Freudo. Alumni Relations considers it a success so far and expects the tour to last another three to four years, he said.
The University at Albany recently appointed its president, Dr. Robert Jones, in September and he took office this past January. Because Jones transferred to SUNY from the University of Minnesota, Albany has planned a smaller regional trek to get him acquainted with the area and alums, according to Catharine Herman, the associate vice president of media and marketing at Albany.
Albany plans on sending him on a broader cultivation and fundraising tour after he's settled into his tenure. The university's alumni base is made up of 158,000 people across the globe.
"Fundraising is all about relationship building and these are very successful in relationship building," Herman said. "The fact that you take a delegation of the university and constituents across the board - students, faculty, staff, alumni - and you put them on a bus and people are committed to going and interested in the regions and communities that we serve and where we have connections, people are always really happy to host us, and it's just really good, high-touch effort to connect with people."
***
One thousand four hundred fifty-three people attended the first 17 tour events, which were held between Oct. 1, 2011, and March 11, 2013. Just over 1,000 alumni came to the events, according to documents provided by Alumni Relations.
The 17 receptions have cost UB approximately $400,000, according to Wells.
Four hundred forty-two of the 1,453 people who attended the tour events within the first 17 stops gave or pledged monetary donations - all of which added to just over $8.9 million, according to Wells. The gifts will be allocated per the donors' request.
"It's a pretty wide range [of uses], and some of them are undesignated or unrestricted by the donors," Wells said. "But it comes back for all of our key priorities ... these are very useful gifts for [UB]. The less restricted a gift is, the more the university is happy."
Pledges are "promised" gifts, ones to be disbursed over a period of time, according to Ann Brown, the senior director for the Office of Development Communication. For example, a donor could make a pledge of $25,000 payable over five years, she said.
Gifts - which are simply donations - are monetary funds usually collected during a fiscal year, Brown added. The gifts and pledges can benefit different facets of the university - from athletics and student scholarships to professorships and university facilities.
"Most alums aren't giving tons of money," Wells said. "Most alums are going to give what they can. Whether it's a $50 gift or a $25 gift, those gifts come in the aggregate and really add up for the university."
One alum, after attending the reception in Phoenix, Ariz., on Jan. 24, 2012, pledged $4 million to be used for student scholarships, according to Wells. The donor, who wished to remain anonymous, had lost touch with the university since graduation, and the tour stop made a difference, Wells said. She attributes that difference to the chance to meet Tripathi - he serves as almost a "welcome home" symbol for alumni, she added.
Two years ago, before the tour, 398 of the 452 people who donated during this tour gave $3.7 million in gifts and pledges for the university - almost a 42 percent increase since the tour started. The Spectrum requested data concerning monetary funds given the past five years, but Alumni Relations said it strongly feels comparing donors activity before and after the tour is the "most fair and balanced" evaluation, according to UB Spokesman John Della Contrada.
"Alumni often need to meet their presidents in order to determine what direction their institution is going in, especially if the president is different than the president they remember when they were students," Wells said. "And if they're engaged with that president, they are typically more inclined to engage with their alma mater."
***
The exact cost of the tour until Oct. 18, 2012, the last date included within the parameters of a Freedom of Information Law request The Spectrum filed in October, adds up to $314,668.
The total includes the cost of the event receptions, which includes the venue, catering and all event logistics; planning materials, which include invitations, printing and banners; and travel for all university officials who participate in the events, including Tripathi, his wife, representatives from Alumni Relations and the Alumni Association and various faculty members.
"Each city is different and I think we are averaging about $23,000 per city," Wells said. "Each of the cities [have] different venues, different expenses, because sometimes we get the alums or donors to sponsor and host the event."
The budget for the tours - which is unrestricted and loosely planned - is embedded within Alumni Relations' annual $1.7 million allowance, according to Wells. The budget for the tour is part of the office's normal operating expenses, and no student funds (tuition or fees) are used to pay for the events, according to Della Contrada.
The tour has cost about 24 percent of the $1.7 million Alumni Relations is able to spend each academic year, which is derived from Alumni Association dues and other money generated by the Office of Alumni Relations, according to Della Contrada.
The most expensive stops to date were the Beijing and Hong Kong events on March 26, 2012, and April 2, 2012; together, the expenses added up to $62,796, according to FOIL documents.
The least expensive stop was Knoxville, Tenn., which cost $6,262. The event ran Sept. 30 until Oct. 1, 2011, and it took place in Atlanta, Ga.; the alumni reception was held at an alum's home. A pre-game tailgate party was held the following day at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville for the UB Bulls/Tennessee Knoxville Volunteers football game.
The president, though, has his own travel budget and his travel expenses are paid from those funds. Through the first 17 events, UB spent $20,003.85 on Tripathi's airfare, and spent $19,251.80 on Mrs. Tripathi's airfare. Additionally, the university spent almost $16,000 on other travel expenses, which includes meals, car rentals and accommodations - just over $55,000 total for Tripathi and his wife.
By organizing the tour around Tripathi's normal travel and outreach schedule, expenses were kept low and efficiency was maximized, according to Della Contrada. For example, Tripathi's first stop in Tennessee coincided with the football game, a big draw for current students and alumni alike.
The Washington, D.C., stop was planned around the Association of American University's meeting in April 2012, which the president attended.
The tour stopped in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 10, 2012, and on July 13, the delegation went to commencement at the Singapore Institute of Management - UB has a 17-year partnership and joint degree program with the institution.
Before that, in March and April 2012, Tripathi led a group of faculty to Beijing and Hong Kong and signed a new agreement for a comprehensive MBA program with Renmin University in Beijing.
***
Once the 20 Cities in 20 Months tour has completed, Wells and her staff will analyze all data collected - the total spent, the total raised, what happened at the events, how many people attended and what the impacts and implications of these findings mean for the university, its students, alumni and the broader community. They'll also analyze what was done well and what can be planned better for future events and tours. All information will be released to the public, Wells said.
"The president should be getting out on a regular basis as a part of his job," Wells said. "All presidents do. That's standard practice. If presidents aren't getting out there, they're not doing their job."
Tripathi has three more stops before the tour comes to a close on May 15 - Philadelphia, Pa., Chicago, Ill., and the finale in New York, N.Y.
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
