For the first time in a decade, UB released an Economic Impact Report detailing the effect the university has on economic activity of Erie County, Western New York and New York state.
Prepared by the Office of the Provost, the study regards UB as a corporation, placing the university's total annual effect on Western New York at $1.25 billion. Its impact on the state as a whole is totaled at $1.28 billion, roughly four times New York state's investment into the university.
In addition to direct monetary effect, UB ranks fifth among Western New York's largest employers of full-time workers, behind only the state, the federal government, Erie County and the Buffalo City School District. The report's figures show UB employing more than 12,000 full- and part-time workers, including faculty, students, professionals and other staff members.
Despite these statistics, though, UB continues to be criticized for building North Campus in Amherst instead of the commonly favored downtown Buffalo area.
"Buffalo is still reeling because of a decision made more than 30 years ago, to move UB to Amherst. The problems with Buffalo today are exemplified by UB's dis-investment around South Campus," said Buffalo Common Council President James Pitts. "To bring vibrancy back to University Heights, UB must move operations back to the city."
In addition to the UB's direct expenditures in the region, UB's alumni account for a large population of licensed professionals in Erie County. According to the report, 89.1 percent of attorneys, 92.6 percent of dentists, 67.5 percent of pharmacists and 28 percent of physicians in Erie County graduated from UB. While the majority of UB graduates move outside of the immediate area, 43 percent reside in Western New York and an additional 20 percent live outside Western New York but remain in the state.
UB's more than 80 organized research centers and institutes were also taken into account.
"Overall, research is a major engine of economic development," Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi stated in the report. "Each dollar of research funding produces $3 in economic impact to the community; each $1 million of research and development spending produces just over 29 jobs."
The university spent $187.7 million in federal and state funds in 1999-2000 on research in the areas of lasers and photonics, oral health, hearing and deafness, earthquake engineering, document analysis, and the environment. During this time, UB faculty members earned patents for implantable cardiac pacemakers, a middle-ear infection vaccine for infants and children, computer software for the U.S. Postal Service, and drugs for cancer and AIDS patients.
While the report discussed UB's impact on the Western New York region at-large, specifics pertaining to the city of Buffalo were lacking.
Another study produced by the provost's office was the Connections to the Community study, released in November 2001. The study documents hundreds of programs designed by UB students and faculty to provide community service. Unlike the Economic Impact Report, the study focuses on the social effects of UB on the WNY community.
"We look primarily at the eight-county region which comprises Western New York," said Deborah A. Silverman, executive assistant to the provost. "But locally, various schools have programs in things like social work and urban education."
Among these programs is the Kensington Project, in which local law enforcement, social services and other organizations such as job-training agencies collaborate with UB for an intervention project for students of Kensington High School, and residents of two housing projects in the surrounding neighborhood.
According to both studies, UB is also responsible for raising $750,000 per year for the Buffalo and Erie County United Way.
"We will improve, and the university will grow and develop further," said UB President William Greiner. "We will continue our efforts here (North Campus) and on South Campus. Our biggest impact is in our teaching and our research, and to improve, we will increase the size and quality of our faculty and research.
