With six months under his belt as the university's president, John Simpson has decided to take UB in a new direction by re-organizing the structure of the administration.
Simpson said he decided to shake things up in the administration after several months of talking to his colleagues.
"I spent six months listening to people and their difficulties and aspirations and thought about them and how to accomplish them," Simpson said. "I thought about the best way to organize them, and made the overall changes in administration."
Simpson began this planning period on July 14, and will continue to see it through until each position has a leader to match. He intends to launch two institutional planning teams to focus mainly on comprehensive academic planning and academic support planning.
According to a press release in early July, Simpson said these teams-made up of faculty, deans, and administrative staff--will work together to set up the academic and operational priorities for UB and decide what route to take to put these plans into action.
Simpson has put together a senior level organizational structure to aid in the planning process.
New Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Satish Tripathi will be one of two executive vice presidents reporting to Simpson. The other position, that of Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations, is currently filled by Simpson's Chief of Staff James Willis in an interim capacity.
A national search will be conducted to fill this position, along with three others--Vice President for Research, Vice President for Health Affairs, and Vice President for External Affairs.
According to Simpson, no one was relieved of his or her duties in order to implement the new organizational program.
Jaylan Turkkan, former vice president for research, left UB this summer.
"She left on her own grounds, in order to pursue other options," said Simpson.
Simpson said the Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations will have dual responsibilities.
"In general, they are responsible for overseeing UB business and enterprise," he said.
Ideally, Simpson hopes this change in organization will help the university function as a whole, rather than in separate parts. Formally employed at colleges in California and Washington, Simpson saw these universities reap the benefits of similar organization techniques.
"I had aspects that were similar, and people that reported to me," Simpson said. "I took the best of the two, and brought them back."
Vice President of Student Affairs Dennis Black is looking forward to what the change in administration will bring to the university.
"New leaders come in, and each have distinct leadership styles," said Black. "Hopefully they take advantage of this re-organization."
Until the positions are permanently filled, each except for External Affairs has an interim administrative figure. Robert Genco will serve as Interim Vice President for Research. Simpson said Genco will broadly oversee support and leadership for UB's research programs.
Margaret L. Paroski will serve as Interim Vice President for Health Affairs in addition to her current position of Interim of Dean of Medicine. Her new responsibilities will include leading the integrated associate health and science programs, Simpson said.
A national search will be conducted to find UB's next Vice President for External Affairs, who will oversee the university programs and deal with extended relations as well as government relations, Simpson said.
Simpson said he is ready for the careful planning necessary to execute a national search.
"Let's just say it's going to be a busy year," he said.
