Joseph T. Walsh was supposed to be introduced Wednesday as a candidate for the next provost of UB. But Walsh, the vice president for research and professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern University, is no longer a candidate for the position.
It is unclear whether Walsh was removed as a finalist candidate by the UB provost search committee or if he voluntarily withdrew his name.
Connie Holoman, a deputy in the Office of the President, said the only people officially authorized to speak about the search for the next provost are search committee chairpersons Anne Curtis and David Felder, who were unavailable for comment. Attempts to reach Walsh at Northwestern offices in Chicago were unsuccessful.
UB spokesman John Della Contrada said on Wednesday that he was unaware of the recent developments and could not speak to Walsh's removal as a candidate.
On Tuesday, the only remaining internal contender, Arjang Assad, met with members of the press and UB community to outline his vision as the potential provost. Assad is the current dean of UB's School of Management and was a professor at the University of Michigan for 34 years before arriving at UB.
The search for the next provost has progressed significantly since the fall semester. In September, UB officials announced they would establish a committee for the search, headed by Curtis and Felder.
By February, the have been off-site interviews of at least 14 candidates. Beginning last Friday, March 2, The Center for Tomorrow has hosted the public on-campus visits for the three finalists.
Charles F. Zukoski, chair of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was the first to appear on campus to support his candidacy. On Friday, it will be Danny Reible's turn to make an appearance. Reible is chair of environmental health engineering and director of the Center for Research in Water Resources at the University of Texas.
While Assad hails from a business background Zukoski and Reible are professor and chair in departments in the field of science. This should come as no surprise to those familiar with UB 2020, as the school seeks to advance its esteem as a major research institution.
During Assad's visit as a candidate on Tuesday, he spoke of the responsibilities facing the provost position as well as his own goals for implementing UB 2020.
"I think having committed to that plan [UB 2020], it has some freedom for the provost and the president to work together to tighten things and to fine-tune things," Assad said. "They haven't squeezed all the creativity out of the system."
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Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
