College of Arts and Sciences Dean selection underway

With the dean position currently vacant in the College of Arts and Sciences, a search committee has been formed to fill the position with a worthy candidate.

English instructor Robert Daly, credited as a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, is chairman of the search committee.

"We are getting applicants for the position from all over the country," Daly said. "To say the committee will have a difficult time filtering out candidates is an understatement. There are many worthy applicants to choose from."

The committee was set up in order to find a replacement for former Dean Uday P. Sukhatme, who left UB last summer for the position of Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean of the faculties at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

Daly was confident that the search committee would find the right person for the job, and was clear in stating that the search process is very thorough.

"The candidates that were deemed as most fitting for the position were interviewed for further evaluation," Daly said. "After these interviews, the selection was narrowed to a small group of semi-finalists who will meet with faculty, students and members of the University's Senior Leadership Team."

Daly also affirmed that while the process may be long, the committee is right on schedule, as the beginning of the selection process has already begun. He also said that certain information pertaining to the search process could not be divulged to the public.

"At this stage in the search process, the level of confidentiality is kept at an all-time high. We can ill afford any speculations or rumors circulating around the candidates, as that have been a cause for concern in past dean searches."

Despite the schedule that the committee is adhering to, Daly noted that time is not an issue.

"The committee and I are well aware that it is better to get a good dean slowly, than to rush a poor one in quickly," he said.

The job is currently being filled by Interim Dean Bruce D. McCombe, Professor in the Department of Psychics. Daly is hopeful that the position will be filled by the next academic year.