Future U.S. President Millard Fillmore, then a lawyer who had recently served in the United States House of Representatives, was one of the principal founders.

In 1916, Grace Millard Knox pledged $500,000 (equivalent to $14,000,000 in 2023) for the establishment of a "department of liberal arts and sciences in the University of Buffalo", which was at the time still a private institution.

The initial gift of $100,000 was for the purchase of what would become Townsend Hall and the remainder was to establish the university's first endowment, in her husband's name, to support the department.

The North Campus project included several major buildings, dormitory complexes, a separate spur of the interstate highway, and a new lake.

[21] Started in 2004 under President John B. Simpson, UB 2020 was a strategic planning initiative to develop and implement a vision for the university over the subsequent 15 years.

[23] The current president, Satish K. Tripathi, continued his vocal support of UB 2020[24][25] and has been actively engaging in campus-wide discussion on the proposed tuition increases introduced by the bill.

[26] In 2011, the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences received a donation of $40 million from an alumnus, George Melvin Ellis Jr., MD, who earned his medical degree from the university in 1945.

[27] The donation contributed to the $375 million project which has relocated the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to UB's downtown campus.

[29] On August 22, 2013, President Barack Obama came to UB's campus to give a speech about needed higher education reform in the country.

President Obama highlighted UB's accolades and specifically chose Buffalo for its excellence and commitment to the future, graduation rates and retention, and quality education at an affordable price.

[32][33][34] Beginning in 2019, UB took steps to distance the institution from Millard Fillmore and ceased its co-sponsorship of his annual gravesite ceremony, due to his controversial policies regarding slavery in the United States.

[63][64] The four-year, full-time undergraduate program comprises the majority of enrollments at the university which emphasizes a balanced curriculum across the arts, sciences, and professions.

It contains the Student Union, which houses offices for the Student Association and student-interest clubs; Slee Hall, which presents contemporary and classical music concerts; Alumni Arena, the home-court for University Athletics; the UB Center for the Arts, a non-profit presenter of a wide variety of professional entertainment and University at Buffalo Stadium, the 30,000 seat football stadium.

[101] The Downtown Campus is the site of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences as well as UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Science, which partners in research with UB's Ira G. Ross Eye Institute[104][105] as well as the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute to compose the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus.

The medical campus, which is designed to meet LEED Silver criteria, incorporates high efficiency lighting, heat recovery systems, and an Energy Star roof.

Currently, UB is implementing "phase one" by seeking input from the local and university communities to pinpoint issues, opportunities, and concerns related to this expansion.

The project recognizes UB's potential for excellence, in regard to the university's physical environment, by highlighting and evaluating various positive and negative attributes of the three campuses, including housing, circulation, functionality, landscape, and community interface.

Subject is a student-run online multimedia outlet that includes student-written articles, and radio shows, video, and podcasts by students and alumni.

[125] The UB Student Alumni Association (UBSAA) annually hosts the world's largest collegiate mud-volleyball game known as "Oozefest".

One hundred ninety-two teams of at least six students compete in a double elimination volleyball tournament at "The Mud Pit" each Spring before finals.

Linda Yalem was a sophomore at UB who was studying communications and training for the New York City Marathon when she was raped and killed by Altemio Sanchez after going for a run on the Ellicott Creek Bike Path on September 29, 1990.

On the North Campus, there is the Ellicott Complex, which consists of Evans (formerly Porter), Fargo, Red Jacket, Richmond, Spaulding, and Wilkeson Quadrangles.

Those locations are generally situated in the University Heights district of Buffalo, and other areas close to the North and South Campuses.

[130] Men's team sports at UB include those in football, basketball, track and field, wrestling, cross country, and tennis.

[130] The Bulls' women's teams feature basketball, track and field, cross country, volleyball, softball, soccer, tennis, and swimming and diving.

Notable Buffalo baseball alumni include: Joe Hesketh, Tom Murphy, Bill Schuster, Eddie Basinski and Steve Geltz.

In May 2010, the team won the Jack & Nancy Seitz Women's Point Trophy at the Dad Vail Regatta for the third year in a row.

[140][141] The women's basketball team won the MAC championship and made their first trip to the NCAA tournament in program history in 2016.

But the Bulls would be allowed to participate only if backup defensive end Mike Wilson and starting halfback Willie Evans, who were black, did not play.

Philbin and UB's Willie Ross were the first two UB graduates to play on professional football championship teams in the United States: Ross with the 1964 AFL Champion Buffalo Bills; and Philbin with the 1968 AFL Champion New York Jets, who also won that season's AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl III).