News
Presidential search committee named
The members of the committee that will conduct a national search to identify a successor to President John B. Simpson have been named by Jeremy Jacobs, chair of the UB Council and chair of the Presidential Search Committee.
Simpson announced on Aug. 30 that he will retire on Jan. 15 so that he can return to the West Coast with his wife, Katherine, and spend more time with his family.
In announcing the members of the search committee in an e-mail to UB faculty and staff sent late Tuesday afternoon, Jacobs said the committee, which met for the first time earlier that day, will be assisted by the search firm of Russell Reynolds Associates, a liaison from SUNY and “several other individuals with experience and expertise in the recruitment and search process.”
Russell Reynolds Associates has assisted UB in numerous administrative searches, including the most recent searches for deans of the schools of Dental Medicine, Public Health and Health Professions, Management and Nursing.
According to SUNY’s guidelines for conducting presidential searches, the campus search committee submits a list of qualified candidates to the UB Council. The council, as UB’s local governing body, recommends a candidate to the SUNY chancellor, who then submits his or her recommendation to the Board of Trustees. The board must approve the appointment of the campus president.
Members of the committee conducting the search for UB’s 15th president are:
- Jeremy M. Jacobs, chair, UB Council and Presidential Search Committee.
- Arjang A. Assad, dean of the School of Management and professor, Department of Management Science and Systems.
- H. Austin Booth, interim associate vice president, University Libraries.
- John M. Canty Jr., Alfred and Elizabeth Rekate Professor of Medicine and chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
- Helen H. Cappuccino, clinical assistant professor, Department of Surgery, Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
- Diane R. Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences.
- Mark J. Czarnecki, UB Council member and president, M&T Bank.
- Angelo M. Fatta, chairm, UB Foundation, and president, CTC Group.
- Joseph A. Gardella Jr., John and Frances Larkin Professor of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences.
- Pamela D. Heilman, UB Council member and partner, Hodgson Russ LLP.
- Robert G. Hoeing, associate professor, Department of Linguistics, and chair, UB Faculty Senate.
- Maureen Mussenden, associate counsel, Office of University Counsel.
- Christopher J. O’Brien, UB Council member and partner, O'Brien Boyd PC.
- Alfred D. Price, associate professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, School of Architecture and Planning.
- Nischal Vasant, president, undergraduate Student Association.
- A. Scott Weber, professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, and vice provost and dean for undergraduate education.
Reader Comments
Patrick Lyons says:
What party in the Search Committee is representing the Porfessional Staff?
Posted by Patrick Lyons, Sr. Financial Aid Officer, 09/29/10
Jim Holstun says:
Mr. Ruggirello quotes from paragraph 2. He should read just a little bit further: "4. Taking care to assure that faculty representation on the search committee speaks for a broad spectrum of faculty opinion, the faculty shall elect its representatives to the search committee by secret ballot at an open session of the faculty governance group, at which a quorum of the teaching faculty are present. The council chair shall invite the appropriate campus and community groups to submit recommendations for all other positions on the search committee, and shall make the appointments to the remaining positions on the search committee from the recommendations submitted."
This is the clear procedure that has been violated. The UB presidential search committee is illegitimate
Posted by Jim Holstun, Professor of English, 09/25/10
Jim Holstun says:
Professor Jackson's misstatements begin with his third word, when he says "Professor Holstun misquotes." But I don't quote anything at all--only "scare" quotes to refer to Jeremy Jacobs's non-appointment of Scott Nostaja.
My rendering of the document's stipulations is accurate, as anyone who reads it can see. Professor Jackson seems to have forgotten that people reading these comments know how TO READ. I won't belabor his other misstatements, except to say that he is simply mistaken about the balloting: there was a meeting of the FSEC, which is not the "faculty governance group" (the Senate), however much the FSEC may be trying to usurp its power. And there was certainly no quorum of the Voting Faculty present. Nobody claims that.
Posted by Jim Holstun, Professor of English, 09/23/10
Bruce Jackson says:
Professor Holstun misquotes and misrepresents the SUNY document he cites as the source of his attack on Jeremy Jacobs. It does not say that there should be "an alum representative, nominated by an alumni organization," nor does it say there should be "one staff member, nominated by a staff organization.” The document does not say there should be only one academic dean. Holstun made all those things up.
Nor does the document say there should be "six members of the full-time teaching faculty, elected by the full-time teaching faculty." It does say the representatives should be elected "by secret ballot at an open session of the faculty governance group, at which a quorum of the voting faculty is present." Which is exactly what happened.
Posted by Bruce Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor, 09/23/10
Jim Holstun says:
I’m afraid that this announcement from Mr. Jeremy Jacobs is no more legitimate than his “appointment” of Mr. Scott Nostaja as Interim President. As indicated in SUNY’s own guidelines for conducting a presidential search (http://www.suny.edu/sunypp/documents.cfm?doc_id=573), there should be
—six members of the full-time teaching faculty, elected by the full-time teaching faculty; there are NONE. Instead, there are seven members appointed by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.
—an alum representative, nominated by an alumni organization; there seem to be NONE.
—one academic dean; there are TWO.
—one staff member, nominated by a staff organization; there are NONE.
The SUNY Guidelines are there for a reason. Please follow them, and stop introducing radical changes arbitrarily.
Posted by Jim Holstun, Professor of English, 09/23/10