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ELLEN GOLDBAUM
News Services Editor

Asked to discuss his views on the merger options outlined in the planning document, Headrick responded that while he does not favor one option over another, one benefit of mergers is the opportunity to reduce the size of administration.

"I think Natural Sciences and Mathematics has functioned reasonably well, but it's not very large and could be folded into another unit without a loss of attention to concerns of faculty," he said.

Engineering faculty expressed varying views of the proposed merger, with some favoring retention of the school of engineering's identity as a professional school.

For others, the possible merger involving the school brought back memories of previous efforts to combine faculties.

Dennis Malone, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, noted that 15 years ago, efforts to create a college of arts and sciences engendered arguments "that were almost entirely emotionally and culturally based."

Headrick said he has proposed that a group of faculty from outside the affected schools be set up to hear evidence about the two merger options in his document. He said that he would like to see a decision on which option to pursue made fairly quickly, perhaps by the end of the summer.

Some faculty complained that future decisions about academic programs may be based on numbers in the provost's report that are inaccurate.

The academic planning document states that enrollment in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences "has declined substantially" during the past eight years and that the school "needs major increases in enrollment if it is to maintain its current faculty size and breadth of programs."

Those increases should come at the undergraduate and master's levels, the plan states, since the doctoral programs are reasonable in size.

Some faculty questioned whether the enrollment declines have been as steep as described in the document.

"We're talking about enrollment declines, but we're comparing to levels that were record highs," said Roger Mayne, professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He said he wondered why in comparison to those record highs, the current numbers were believed to be "low."

Headrick responded that the ideal enrollment target for the school would be somewhere in between the record highs and current levels. Deciding the target, he added, is largely influenced by faculty resources available.

"The number of undergraduates in engineering has dropped very significantly over a very short period of time, while the faculty numbers also have dropped, but not by much," he said.

Several faculty noted that some of the factors contributing to the decline were beyond the school's control, such as the relative decline in the number of high school graduates and the fact that New York State high school students, considered among the best in the nation, are readily accepted to out-of-state schools.

They added, however, that some are within control, such as the perception of UB as a large, complicated institution that is difficult for freshmen to navigate and the sense among new students that their professors do not care about how well they do.

James Whalen, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, urged an increased, university-wide effort to boost enrollment, led by the provost and president.

"Has enrollment and recruitment received anywhere near the priority that, for example, development has received?" he asked.

Only very recently have admissions efforts been given a top priority in the university, Headrick responded.

"We know for example, that we're substantially underspending Binghamton and Albany in admissions and recruitment and they take in smaller classes," he said.

But blaming enrollment declines on the perception that UB is large and complex also is wrong-headed, said Dale Meredith, professor of civil engineering, who pointed out that students are still going to Ohio State University, which is twice as big as UB.

William George, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, added that "UB gets a bum rap" when it comes to the issue of being too large.

"Students tell me they'd rather go to Clarkson University because it's a smaller school," he said. "Well, Clarkson has 5,000 engineering students. Our programs are relatively small compared to other institutions."

Several faculty agreed that once students arrive at UB, they need to receive better advice both about how to proceed academically and how to go about meeting their goals after graduation.

Shahid Ahmad, associate professor of civil engineering, noted that, for example, in introductory physics classes, students are told to look to their left and to their right, and told that two of them won't pass this class.

"The caring isn't there," said Ahmad.

Some faculty members expressed concern about falling standards used to admit students to UB in light of the school's enrollment declines.

Malone noted that students need help with their math and physics homework and that faculty need to devote a lot more time to helping students.

He added that there is a difference between the actual and perceived quality of UB's engineering programs.

"We think we are better than the NRC (National Research Council) ratings," he said. "But if we are trying to increase our perceived quality, it could take 10 years. The question is, how patient is the university willing to be?"

Headrick responded that to close that gap, UB has to develop a better internal system for gathering, marketing and publicizing that data both inside and outside the university.

"If we don't, then we're at the mercy of some good and some bad ratings systems," he said.

"And we've just seen the beginning of this," he cautioned. "It's an industry," he said, referring to the U.S. News & World Report college guide. "There's a great desire for this information out there, as fallacious as it may be."