This report by the Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY) discusses SUNY's "greatest challenge"--that is, the goal of becoming "a more significant player" in meeting New York State's needs in five crucial areas, namely, economic development, environmental conservation, health, public elementary and secondary education, and social services. The context for the effort and the formation of this organizational goal in planning for SUNY in the next century are discussed, and the Chancellor's own priorities, drawn from the reports of the Task Groups working on the five issues are described. These priorities are presented in the form of an eight-point action agenda which calls for: maintaining the Advisory Council on State Needs, requesting a special "state needs" budget, inventorying ongoing state needs projects, establishing a program of SUNY State Service Fellows, recognizing state needs in the granting of tenure and other considerations, planning a multi-agency conference on combining information technology with information needs, requesting assistance on ways SUNY might advance the state's investment in research and teaching in science, and planning ways for SUNY to play a more focused and significant role in addressing social and urban problems. The report offers brief summaries of each of the Task Groups' reports and an appended chart showing the initial dispositions of recommendations from the Task Groups. (JB)