Simpson Presents His Fall Semester Progress to UB Council

UB will soon feel a ripple effect from the fifth floor of Capen Hall as President Simpson moves forward with several nationwide searches and develops a comprehensive plan.

Simpson said during Monday's UB Council Meeting that the university "needs to make some critical decisions about what it is and what it wants to be, and act on that."

Nearly every speaker at the meeting brought up either an academic or financial committee, a comprehensive plan, or series of administrative and faculty searches, all of which will impact the direction Simpson decides to take UB in the near future.

"I'm getting a picture now of the university that you don't get from looking at numbers on a page," Simpson said.

Council Chair Jeremy Jacobs expressed concern that Simpson was biting off a bit more than he can chew, especially with national and in-house administrative position searches underway in both the president's and provost's offices. Too many changes at once for the administrative hierarchy could be a problem, Jacobs said.

According to Simpson, searches for a permanent athletic director and medical school dean are on hold.

"There's only so much you can do at one time," Simpson said.

Provost Satish Tripathi said the administration was particularly busy with solidifying its hierarchy and developing Simpson's comprehensive plan.

"It's not necessarily that you are really rebuilding the whole thing," Tripathi said.

Tripathi updated the Council on the primary academic planning committee, for which he is committee chair.

"The idea really is to find out what our strategic strengths are and build upon that and put forth institutional priority," he said.

Chairman Jacobs expressed an overall concern that many of the committees will not end up with the proper funding to carry out their goals which is an issue the academic support committee is working on.

"When we develop these plans, they have to be altruistic in one sense, but realistic in another," Jacobs said.

Student representative David Brooks also gave his report at the Council meeting. In recent efforts with administrators, he has been able to extend library hours on South Campus and change medical appointment procedures at Michael Hall, Brooks said.

"Now the students will have much better service at the health center," Brooks said.