Ravenweb Blog

As a follow up to my last post , I wanted to highlight a portion of a tribute delivered at William Greiner's memorial service. Judith E. Albino , one of the speakers and a President Emerita and Professor at the Colorado School of Public Health, gave a heartfelt and memorable speech in which she recalled ten life lessons she learned from William Greiner. I've reproduced her list below: Do the right thing, and if you do, you won’t need lawyers – at least not often. There are few real obstacles to reaching our goals, only different, sometimes circuitous – but often, far more interesting – routes for getting there. Ambiguity is good – it means that everything is still possible. Words are powerful – know what they mean; use them well, and use them precisely. The influence of history is real and undeniable; in other words, context is critical in every decision. There’s always another way to look at a problem, and the best solutions require multiple perspectives. Peop...

I attended the public memorial service for former UB President William Greiner this week, and it was a tribute and celebration I will not soon forget. The speakers ranged from former colleagues and associates of Greiner to close friends and family. All evoked the prodigious intelligence and big warmth of a man who left an indelible impression on all those who knew him and a lasting legacy on the university where he served as President. While I was an undergraduate at UB when Greiner became President, it wasn't until much later that I had a personal encounter with him. It was actually only a few years ago, at one of my wife's Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) events when many of the Kappa's brought their spouses. We were eating lunch, and I found myself sitting across from Carol Greiner (a Kappa like my wife) and her husband -- Bill Greiner. Conversation flowed as my wife and I began to pepper Bill with questions. He realized we were very interested in talking to him and spoke a...