UB's new provost is Satish Tripathi, formerly the dean of the Bourne College of Engineering at the University of California at Riverside. His appointment is consistent with President John Simpson's transformation of this school into a top research institution.
Tripathi has worked with the Bourne College of Engineering for over seven years. He has added four new departments, five interdisciplinary research centers and increased the number of students from just over 500 to approximately 2000 during his time there. With his experience at Bourne, Tripathi is definitely qualified to expand the technological sectors of the school and make them first-class.
Though the focus on research in science, bioinformatics and engineering is impressive, UB may unfortunately be moving away from our focus on the humanities. At one time, UB was a highly regarded institution for English and verbal arts. Unfortunately that legacy is slowly dying down as the university turned its eye toward more technologically attractive majors.
Even though the humanities does not bring in the research and grant money that the sciences do, it is not an excuse to be ignored, especially for a university of this size that serves the entire state.
While it is understandable that UB wants to become one of the top technological schools around, that does not mean it should brush the more traditional and proven forms of education toward the trash. There is no finite amount of focus that has to be only in one area, and there is no reason why one must fade while another prospers.
Tripathi bested the 40 highly qualified candidates, proving that the UB administration saw something special in him. With his lush qualifications and leadership skills, there is no reason to believe that Tripathi will do anything except perform excellently as provost.
