Jonathan Yedin was introduced on Monday as the new student representative to the UB Council, a high-profile advisory board of administrators and community members to President John Simpson.
Yedin, a senior political science major from Brooklyn, gave his first report to the council and expressed his hopes for UB as well as his desire to improve on the work of past student representatives.
"UB is making all the right strides to becoming one of the leading universities in the nation," Yedin said. "We will be there in size, sports programs, and education."
President Simpson also spoke briefly about his first 20 months in office.
"There's been a tremendous amount that's changed in the time I've been here," Simpson said.
Simpson reported on the progress of UB2020, an ongoing project to evaluate the future of UB and the ways to develop the university. Progress was better than expected, Simpson said.
"I might have predicted we would not have been to this stage this time a year ago," he said.
Simpson also reported on the relief efforts at UB for Hurricane Katrina. Already, 11 undergraduates have transferred from affected universities, with news on credit transfer and tuition relief waiting. In addition, Student Life is organizing fundraisers and blood drives to help out the effort.
"I'm very proud of what the university has done in response to the disasters that have occurred after the hurricane," Simpson said.
Simpson next introduced new hires for four open positions at UB: David L. Dunn as the vice president for health sciences, Marsha S. Henderson as vice president for external affairs, Warde J. Manuel as the director of athletics, and Jorge V. Jos?(c) as the vice president for research.
Jos?(c) was also present to give a brief introduction of what he plans to do to help the research department.
"Excellence is the key word in everything we are trying to do," said Jos?(c), who previously served as chair of the department of physics at Northeastern.
Another report, from Executive Vice President James Willis, indicated that the bioinformatics building downtown is nearing completion. Construction of the building began in 2003, and should be finished by December or January, according to Willis. Plans for an opening celebration are also tentatively in the works.
The UB Council meets periodically each year to advise the president and other senior administration of policy over all fields at the university. The group is composed of nine government appointed officials as well as one student representative.
