The goal for UB's future has been stated and defined: "UB 2020 is UB's far-reaching plan for our emergence as a world-class public research university." All that the administration has to do now is push the agenda forward.
The Presidential Search Committee did its job by recommending John Simpson Jr. (Satish K. Tripathi, Ph. D.), one of UB 2020's "principal creators" and an involved researcher, to be the university's next president. Soon enough, the College of Arts and Sciences will follow suit when its next dean is named.
The CAS is the largest college at UB with 27 departments, 150 different degree programs, roughly 13,000 undergraduates, and 470 faculty members. But the final two candidates up for the prestigious position of dean – Professors Charles Emerson Mitchell and E. Bruce Pitman – hardly represent the diverse school that they hope to head.
Without question, their credentials are impressive: Mitchell received his Ph. D. from Harvard University, was chair of the department of geology, and is an avid researcher. Pitman earned his Ph. D. from Duke University, is the associate dean of research and sponsored programs for CAS, and has research interest in applied mathematics, computational science and mathematical modeling.
Research, research, research. Maybe the CAS should re-search.
According to their curriculum vitaes, these professors have brought in over $11 million in grants, collectively. The money they've been awarded, however, hasn't impressed every one of the 470 faculty members of the CAS.
In fact, many faculty members have expressed concern about the two nominees, especially those of the humanities departments. Emerson chaired a department with professors who make up less than 4 percent of the CAS faculty, while Pitman lacks the experience of leading any department.
Furthermore, throughout their tenures, both candidates have worked extensively within the hard sciences but have little, if any, experience with humanities departments such as English, political science, media studies and American studies.
Coincidentally, the humanities departments have been hit hard by the recent budget cuts, making it difficult for students to enroll in classes that are scarcer than ever. The hard sciences, although having endured reduced funding as well, have continued to bring in large sums of money due to research grants.
Did we mention that "UB 2020 is UB's far-reaching plan for our emergence as a world-class public research university?"
As money is pulled out of the humanities and raked in by the hard sciences, it's no wonder that the two candidates are from departments such as geology and mathematics. How extensively was this search conducted? Were there 60-some-odd nominees here, too?
What's more interesting is noting who determines the next dean of the CAS: the university's provost, who also happens to be the university's next president, Tripathi. Although he's technically the "officer in charge" for now, we're sure UB would make an exception to let him retain some of the authority his former position once granted him.
It seems that the pieces of the UB 2020 puzzle are falling into place all too neatly. The future of UB is research, but who are the subjects?
