Schulze to step down as CAS dean

Robin Schulze is stepping down as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences after an eight-year tenure leading the university’s largest and most diverse academic unit, Provost A. Scott Weber announced today in a memo informing the university community of Schulze’s decision.

Schulze will remain as dean until her successor is hired, after which point she will return to her faculty role.

“An innovative dean and dedicated university leader, Dean Schulze has significantly advanced UB’s educational, research, and engagement missions,” Weber said. “She has been committed to enhancing the strength and reputation of the college through building disciplinary excellence, providing students with innovative and research-grounded educational experiences, improving student success metrics and outcomes, promoting inclusive excellence, and deepening engagement in the community.”

Weber said a search for Schulze’s successor will begin soon.

Appointed dean in 2016, Schulze has led the College of Arts and Sciences through a nationally challenging time for liberal arts education while strengthening its programs and partnerships.

“It has been an honor to work alongside the talented, innovative, dedicated faculty, staff, students and alumni of the college to advance the university’s goals,” Schulze said. “UB’s uniquely collaborative spirit, an ethos that permeates every part of our institution, has made this challenging job a pleasure.”

Under Schulze’s leadership, the college has increased research expenditures by more than 68%, from approximately $22 million in 2015-16 to $37 million in 2022-23, and substantially increased faculty grant proposals. Schulze has also secured major investments to enhance the college’s disciplinary excellence, including funds to support endowed Innovation Professors.

“Dean Schulze has championed and sustained a research and scholarship culture within the college,” said Weber. “Under her leadership, the college has recruited excellent new faculty and significantly enhanced faculty diversity.”

To enhance faculty impact and to provide students with exceptional educational opportunities, Schulze has focused on creating interdisciplinary departments and programs that approach issues from multiple vantage points in key areas of societal importance.

These include innovative new or reinvigorated departments, including Environment and Sustainability, Global Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Africana and American Studies. Schulze is also principal investigator on UB’s $3.174 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to support the transformative Department of Indigenous Studies, which builds upon a more than 50-year tradition of Indigenous scholarship at UB.

She has also led the college in building partnerships with other schools to offer collaborative degree programs, including the UB Teach program, the joint bachelor’s and law degree, and the unique interdisciplinary master’s program in drugs, health and society.

“Across degree programs, Dean Schulze has prioritized student success and focused on providing students with career-building, hands-on learning experiences grounded in research and community engagement,” Weber said.

Schulze holds a master’s degree in music and a PhD in English from the University of Michigan. Prior to being named dean at UB, Schulze was the associate dean for the humanities and a professor of English at the University of Delaware.