Among the faculty's conclusions, according to Malone's report, were that increased use of adjunct faculty "threatens the academic excellence of programs," that faculty productivity should be measured in terms of student output, rather than faculty courseload; and that new techonology-based instruction, such as distance learning, may not be the panacea that some view it. The trustees are due to produce a comprehensive report on SUNY changes by Dec. 1.

"I think it's significant that neither the trustees nor the legislature seem to understand what we as faculty do," said Malone, describing the politicians' outlook on faculty productivity as the product of "a Time-Clock mentality." Malone feared the emphasis placed on "cost-benefit ratios" and part-time faculty as a solution for economic problems could negatively impact the academic integrity of university programs.

Of course, this was not the first time Malone has stepped up to a task above and beyond the confines of an electrical engineering classroom or his Bell Hall office. If fact, if you ask Malone whether there have been UB committees on which he has not served during the past four decades, he would likely respond, as President Eisenhower did when queried about the accomplishments of his vice president, Richard Nixon, "Give me a week, I'll think of one."

Malone has been a fixture in UB university goverance for many years. He has served on the Faculty Senate and its Executive Committee since1978, chaired the Faculty Senate from 1983 to 1985, and has chaired numerous Senate committees over the years including Academic Planning, Academic Freedom and Responsibility, and Articulation. Currently, he seeks to keep order among Senators as Faculty Senate Parliamentarian.

Malone also chairs UB's Intercollegiate Athletics Board and recently headed up the decennial Middle States Accreditation Review Committee. And, he has been involved with engineering and technology issues at the state level, chairing a 1980 State Assembly Conference on Telecommunications-Growth Industries, and serving as a consultant to the State Senate Committee on Nuclear Energy.

Malone graduated from UB in 1954 and went on to earn his doctorate from Yale. He joined the Electrical Engineering faculty in 1963. Three times since 1968, Malone has served as chair of the Electrical Engineering Department. A Distinguished Service Professor since 1991, Malone confessed to a little secret when asked how he decided to become an electrical engineer. "Actually, I'm not," he whispered. Malone's B.A., M.S. and Ph.D are all in the closely related field of physics.