The Faculty Senate passed a new decanal review process on Tuesday afternoon in the Center for Tomorrow, as it had enough members of the body attending to vote.
UB used revenue from NYSUNY 2020’s rational tuition program to hire 277 new faculty members from the time of the plan’s inception in 2011 to the end of 2014. But the additional faculty may have limited space on campus.
Michael Chaskes, a professor in the Department of Medicine, is wondering how “anything is going to get done” at UB with the consistent struggle the Faculty Senate has getting enough members present at a meeting to take a vote.
The Faculty Senate Executive Committee assigned a committee to draft a policy on professors assigning self-published textbooks after a Spectrum editor presented her reporting to the Executive Committee Wednesday.
On Monday, UB is sending out its new campus-wide course evaluation to students that will be available online.
UB is more than $500 million short of what it needs to finish its original construction and renovation plans across all three campuses. The university has hit its spending cap for capital projects and recently presented a new plan with revised expenditures. The original Five-Year Capital Plan allocated $404 million for projects on North Campus, $136 million for South Campus and $24 million for the downtown campus.
On Thursday, SUNY trustees approved an increase SUNY tuition by $300 for the final year in the NYSUNY 2020 Tuition Plan.
On Wednesday, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee voted not to pass making the Institute of Jewish Thought and Heritage into a department.
Kaitlin Ahern, a third year Ph.D. student of anthropology and TA for world civilizations, teaches a class in Knox 104.
The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has narrowed its search for a new dean to four finalists.
Airport security procedures have become second nature to Professor Robert Wagmiller. He barely notices the pressure change in his ears as the plane takes off and lands.
Officer in Charge Satish K. Tripathi is expected to be confirmed as UB's next president by the SUNY Board of Trustees Monday afternoon.
The Presidential Search Committee may not be adhering to SUNY guidelines as it pursues UB's 15th president. It has been speculated that the final candidates have already been recommended to SUNY; however, if true, UB would have violated step 10 of "The Search Process" section listed in the SUNY Guidelines for Conducting [a] Presidential Search. The step states that once finalists are selected, schools are required to schedule campus visits for each of the remaining candidates and are to publically announce the names of those left in the running. UB has taken neither of those steps. The committee, chaired by Jeremy Jacobs, has been searching for President John B.
As the spring semester begins, 30 students are facing failing grades on their transcripts for cheating in Professor Ray Orrange's MGQ 301: Statistical Decisions in Management class at the end of last semester. This incident of widespread academic dishonesty is especially concerning to faculty in the School of Management in light of what happened in David Murray's Introduction to Management Info Systems online-based class, MGS 351, last semester. "I have been here 19 years and I have had various episodes of academic dishonesty," said Orrange, adjunct associate professor in the organization and human resources department.
By now, everybody knows that President John B. Simpson is leaving ? it's just that nobody knows when yet.
The beginning of the semester is long gone but has not been forgotten. President John B. Simpson announced his retirement on the first day of classes and will officially be out of office come Jan.
UB is stepping up on its green efforts and will soon have a solar power source on campus. Renowned artist and landscape artist Walter Hood won a public art competition to develop a 1.1-megawatt solar array for the Flint Road entrance of North Campus.
Although the UB 2020 plan is still in the works, its future looks bleak due to the New York State budget cuts, President Simpson told UB Council members on Monday. UB 2020 offers hope to the Buffalo region and will bring about an increase in jobs in all sectors, Simpson explained, but it is not guaranteed. "UB 2020 is further away today than it has been before," Simpson said. "If we maintain the status quo, [that's] a recipe for disaster." Simpson said that UB 2020 will require funding from the state and from money to be earned by the university – both of which are currently limited. He added that the state has cut UB's funding and constantly pursues outdated policies that prevent the university from improving its revenues. Simpson explained that much of the debate in Albany centers on the issue of tuition and who gets to govern it. He added that public education should be affordable. "We have to ensure that we are able to apply as a public university that is of the highest quality," Simpson said. Although the magnitude of the cuts at UB have been subtle and not as catastrophic as expected, Simpson pointed out that UB may not be able to handle the more severe cuts that it will have in the future. Student representative John Martin shares Simpson's concerns. "Students are really starting to feel the cuts," Martin said. The UB Council also approved the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, a plan intended to strengthen public higher education in New York State and provide a much-needed boost to the state's struggling economy. Through the act, investments in SUNY public research universities like UB will help renew the economies of various New York regions. Simpson is confident that Western New York residents will continue to support and invest in UB, calling them a "beacon of hope" for the university. E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com
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