Depending on how things go in the great commonwealth of Massachusetts, UB may need to begin searching for a new No. 2 woman. Provost Elizabeth Capaldi, hired nearly two years ago after a lengthy, two-year search, is a finalist to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, flagship of the UMass system. Out of a potential 100 candidates, the three finalists are Capaldi, William Hogan, member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, and John Lombardi, former president and current director of the Center for Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Florida. The UMass board of trustees will make its decision sometime in late April.
UMass faces a situation similar to what UB faced when Capaldi arrived here in July 2000: budget gaps and hiring difficulties. UMass has a $15 million hole in its budget, which they're attempting to fill by laying off 95 employees and eliminating seven varsity sports teams. Prior to Capaldi stepping into the role of provost, UB's College of Arts and Sciences, home to the university's liberal arts disciplines and a majority of students, faced a $13 million budget gap and instituted a hiring freeze. The freeze was so unpopular the CAS issued a vote of "no confidence" in President Greiner's administration in April 2000.
Capaldi's subsequent efforts to reform the CAS and improve UB's academic standing illustrate why UMass is so interested in hiring her and why UB should do whatever it takes to keep her here. She erased the CAS budget deficit and lifted the hiring freeze. She restructured university finances and made key appointments, such as making Kerry Grant vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate school and appointing Jaylan Turkkan vice president for research. It was her drive pushing UB to become one of the most research-intensive universities in New York, behind only Cornell, Columbia and the University of Rochester in research spending. The linchpin of her efforts is the Center for Excellence in Bioinformatics, which has attracted over $200 million in research funds, will be a key component of the $1.25 billion UB pumps into the Western New York economy every year.
While UB's choice is clear, Capaldi's is not. The provost faces the option of traveling to another rebuilding job, much like what she faced here two years ago. Or, she can stay and continue to build upon her work as part of the overall resurrection of the university. She can either attempt to recreate her work here in Massachusetts - with all the inherit difficulties of rebuilding from the ground up - or remain with the intellectual and technological infrastructure she developed over the past two years.
After years of muddling and miring through ineffective administration and poor leadership, the university appears to be on the upswing. The departure of Capaldi, a key player in the improvement of UB's fortune, would be a damaging blow to any further progress made by the university. UB cannot afford another costly two-year search for a replacement for someone who needs no replacing. The university must do everything it can to keep Provost Capaldi working for UB.
