"Though some view faculty governance as meetings and reports that are produced then forgotten, I dispute that," asserts Welch. To back up his feelings in true academic style, Welch has already done his research. Faculty Senate members will soon receive a dossier of Senate resolutions of the past decade: more than 50 single-spaced pages of them. Although the Senate's role in policymaking is only advisory, Welch says the list of resolutions shows what cooperative negotiating can accomplish. A "remarkable percentage" of the resolutions have been acted into policy by the campus administration, says Welch.

A decade has passed since his first term as chair, but Welch finds that the issues facing the faculty look remarkably familiar. "For instance, the Undergraduate College had been established to deal with, among other things, establishing general education requirements; the state was beginning to shift support away from state tax dollars and toward tuition," observed Welch, "and President Sample was urging us to step up from Division III athletics." In addition to being past chair of the Senate, Welch has served as chair of the President's Board on Appointments, Promotions and Tenure; as well as having chaired several Faculty Senate committees.

Welch also is one who has viewed the university as both an administrator and a faculty member. Eight of his 30 years at UB were spent in administration. In fact, when he became dean of undergraduate studies in 1967 he was one of the youngest deans in the country, earning him the nickname, "Boy Dean." Welch went on to serve as associate and acting vice president for academic affairs and acting dean of the colleges, as well as chair of the political science department.

A political scientist at UB for 30 years, Welch's academic passions include the political roles of armed forces, international human rights and terrorism. He has produced a dozen books, another 50 book chapters and major journal articles in these areas. In 1993-94, Welch was awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria and Senegal. His latest book, on human rights in Africa, will be published shortly by the University of Pennsylvania Press. His knowledge of the history and politics of terrorism made Welch a much-sought-after commentator following the Oklahoma City bombing earlier this year.

Welch holds the Faculty Senate in high esteem. "Perhaps it is because, as a political scientist, we tend to believe in institutions," he speculates. Among the benefits Welch sees in faculty governance is a closer identification with the university, truer collegiality and a genuine sense of accomplishment. "Difficult times such as these test our collegiality the most," he said. "Working cooperatively with the administration, while maintaining a dynamic tension, we can make this a more humane place."

Welch's personal roots run deep in Boston, where his father was a well-known surgeon, but his association with UB goes back many years. He was only 25 and had just "stepped off the boat from Oxford" when his teaching career began at UB in 1964, but he fondly remembers attending a UB-Harvard football game six years before that, when he was a Harvard undergrad.

"I vividly recall that football game at that fine institution in Cambridge because it was a very wet day, so my date and I huddled under an umbrella to watch the game. I don't even remember for sure whether UB or Harvard won," Welch recalled. "However, that gal and I so enjoyed ourselves that, a couple years later, we were married."

Welch graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, where he was named outstanding premed student and president of Harvard's daily campus paper, The Crimson. He earned his doctorate in philosophy at Oxford University in 1964, then "walked off the boat from England and into my teaching position here." He was a successful professor, acting dean of the colleges and father of four children aged 6 to 16 in 1979 when he lost his first wife to cancer. Today, Welch is married to Jeannette Ludwig, an associate professor in the Modern Languages and Literatures Department. His children are now grown. In fact, several live within blocks of each other and their family roots in Boston.