Bart Roberts named director of UB Regional Institute

For more than 30 years, the University at Buffalo Regional Institute (UBRI) has played an active role in the creation of data-driven, community-informed solutions to address the Buffalo Niagara region’s greatest challenges at the intersection of public policy, urban planning and design, architecture, and real estate development. The UB School of Architecture and Planning is excited to announce that Interim Director Bart Roberts has officially accepted the role of UBRI Director.

Roberts joined UBRI 15 years ago as a data analyst and ascended to the leadership team five years later. He’s been an integral part of the planning, research, and community engagement aspects of a myriad of significant projects, including: Imagine Lasalle, helping to guide the collaborative transformation of LaSalle Park into the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park; The Racial Equity Dividend: Buffalo’s Great Opportunity, the foundational study informing the work of the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable; One Region Forward, the regional planning initiative that guides sustainable development and climate resiliency in Buffalo Niagara; and many more.

During that time, he’s had the great fortune to watch and learn from some outstanding UBRI leaders – including Robert Shibley, Kathryn Foster, and Laura Quebral – and last year, Roberts got the opportunity to take the helm of the Institute himself in the role of interim director. It proved to be a year of transition for the Institute, adjusting not only to its own change in leadership but also welcoming a new dean of the School of Architecture and Planning and relocating from the UB Gateway Building in downtown Buffalo to south campus. Amid those changes, Roberts ensured that UBRI continued to operate without a hitch, meeting all its deliverables and commitments to its partners and projects. The Institute also made some important strides forward that year, expanding its network of community partners, securing new sponsored projects, and seeing an increase in student participation, all resulting in the necessary expansion of the UBRI team from seven to eight staff members.

So, how does the job change when you remove “interim” from the title? He paused before admitting that’s a tough question. “In most ways, I believe the role will stay the same. We’ll continue to develop innovative approaches to make an impact in our communities through projects and continued partnerships but also new partnerships and new sponsored projects…We have a strong foundation, so I’m excited to build on that, including strengthening relationships with faculty, other research centers at our school, and the wider university as well.”

Those partnerships are crucial to the success of UBRI’s commitment to empowering the voices of the community – the Institute operates with the understanding that the best information comes from those closest to the subject matter. “Collaboration is really at the heart of what we do,” Roberts explained. And in the director role, it will remain important for him to maintain and strengthen those successful relationships. “The keys are communication, mutual understanding of roles, respect, and trust. Our role is really to help our partners solve the problems that they’re facing, leveraging the diverse talents embedded in our team. We have a variety of partnerships with local governments, counties, state agencies, foundations, not-for-profits, and other researchers and research centers. And the way that those collaborations work change based on the project or the partners…every partnership is unique.”

In the near term, Roberts’ biggest goal for the Institute is to continue to stay on the cutting edge of the most pressing issues facing our region and to find meaningful ways to help UBRI’s community partners to meet those challenges. This will be done through a combination of research, planning, engagement, geographic information systems (GIS), analysis, communication, tools, economic and community-level analysis, and more. “We’re in an ever-changing region in an ever-changing world,” he pointed out. “And I think one of our strengths is our adaptability in learning new things and translating that learning into resources that can help our community partners.”

In Roberts’ mind, a successful long-term future for UBRI is inextricably linked with the positive effect of its work on the surrounding community. “The vision for the future is really what it’s always been,” he explained. “I want to make the Institute a sustained resource for our region that makes Buffalo Niagara stronger, more connected, resilient, efficient, and informed.”

And as a born-and-bred Buffalonian, Roberts takes particular pride in making his community a better place and continuing to move the needle forward. “In so many ways, UBRI has been an incredible place for me to influence and have an impact on, not just the field, but especially Buffalo, my hometown, and the broader region.”