April 23, 2009
Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Coimbatore
A high-level delegation led by President John B. Simpson from the State University of New York at Buffalo had visited the Amrita campuses in February 2009. (see news). Recently President Simpson wrote to our Vice-Chancellor Dr. Venkat Rangan; excerpts from the letter are reproduced below.
… This was my first trip to India and my wife Katherine and I both thoroughly enjoyed our visit to this beautiful country. Our time on the three Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham campuses at Amritapuri, Bangalore, and Ettimadai was a special highlight of our trip, and a wonderful introduction to India and its impressive higher education system. … I was delighted to see first-hand Amrita’s many remarkable resources and facilities, including the state-of-the-art facilities at the hospital and medical campus in Cochin.
Above all I was deeply impressed with the wonderful faculty I met with at Amrita. Their talent, their dedication, and their pride in Amrita were clear to see, and despite the wide range of fields that they represented, my strong sense was that they were united by the spirit of building an institution together. This is exactly the collaborative, innovative spirit we are seeking to foster as part of our own institutional vision through the UB 2020 strategic planning initiative, and I was greatly impressed by the success you and your colleagues are achieving at Amrita.
As a young institution that is unburdened by history and full of bold ideas for the future, Amrita has much to teach its older counterparts. Truly you are building a world-class institution for the 21st century, and my UB colleagues and I were deeply impressed by the success you clearly already are achieving. … It was a great pleasure to speak with you and learn more about Amrita’s achievements and great promise. I look forward to the continued flourishing of the friendship between our two institutions in the years to come. … ”
About the President of State University of New York at Buffalo
Dr. John Barclay Simpson has been President of the University at Buffalo for over 5 years now. With nearly 35 years of experience in higher education, he is known for his research accomplishments in neuro-endocrinology, physiology and behavior. Dr. Simpson’s vision is to have UB become known as the very best public research institution in Northeast US. He wants this to be achieved by focusing on academic excellence as manifested through research and scholarly distinction, outstanding teaching, effective and engaging public service, and institutional leadership locally, within the state, nation, and around the world.
