Search committee named for Education, Social Work deans

Hugh G. Petrie, dean of the Graduate School of Education, and Fredrick W. Seidl, dean of the Graduate School of Social Work, have announced that they each plan to return to teaching next summer after 16 years and 11 years as deans of their respective schools.

Mecca Cranley, dean of the School of Nursing, will serve as chair of the search committee.

Headrick said a dual search is being conducted because the two schools have similar missions.

"I believe that these two schools should be significantly involved together in research, education, professional development and service aimed at understanding and improving the conditions for children, particularly in contemporary urban environments," Headrick said in a letter to search committee members. "I believe that together they could provide leadership for a concentrated effort to improve urban education by advancing integrative approaches to the challenges faced by children and schools in our urban environment."

The university, he added, is looking to the two schools for a "joint commitmentÉto work together and to build a major joint program effort that melds their expertise in this common and shared endeavor."

Due to the continuous budgetary pressures on all units at UB, the Graduate School of Education and the Graduate School of Social Work are unable to maintain their historical quality and range of programs through traditional modes of operation, Headrick said.

At the same time, UB has a responsibility to deal with major issues that affect the long-term socioeconomic health of the region, including the learning and development of its children.

A change in leadership in both schools "allows the university to make choices about leadership and direction for the future," Headrick said.

"UB...has a growing sense in the academic and policy literature that unless the schools are organized to provide social and psychological supports, as well as improved academic instruction, children will not learn and numerous future social problems will flow from those failures."

The search committee has been asked to identify deans who "will devote considerable effort to this focus on urban education/family/social service...(and who) can work together and coordinate the particular interests, expertise and strengths of their schools in the service of this broader set of objectives."

In addition to Cranley, members of the search committee include Namkee Choi, social work; Gary Cooper, Sweet Home Central Schools; Rodney Doran, learning and instruction; Howard Doueck, social work; Susan Mangold, law school; Ann McElroy, anthropology; Scott Meier, counseling and educational psychology; Dorothy Pappas, Buffalo Psychiatric Center; Nancy Smyth, social work, and Lois Weis, educational organization, administration and policy.