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Mission Review II update
Faculty Senate offers input on SUNY planning document
By MARY COCHRANE
Contributing Editor
Completing the journey from good to great may require UB to, among other things, double the total dollar amount of its federally sponsored research programs, from the current $130 million to $260 million, in the next 15 years, the Faculty Senate was told on Tuesday.
In its final meeting of the semester, the senate saw an outline presentation of UB's Mission Review II report, the second part of a SUNY-mandated planning program for its member institutions.
Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and Sean P. Sullivan, associate vice president for academic planning and budget, made the presentation of the all-but-final version of the UB document, due to be submitted to SUNY by Dec. 15. Following a visit from SUNY by April 15 of next year, UB then will submit a final proposal by Oct. 1, 2005.
In the report, the academic and nonacademic working teams assigned to Mission Review II recommend several goals aimed at making UB "a premier national public university" by 2020, including:
Growing the faculty size and budget to levels comparable with peer institutions
Recruiting future freshman classes with a mean SAT score of 1220, compared to the current record-high of 1183
Aiming for a student population of at least 10 percent out-of-state students, up from the current 4.7 percent
Raising the number of underrepresented students at UB to 15 percent of the student population
Enrolling fewer master's degree students and increasing the number of doctoral students
Continuing to draw students from other countries to UB, which now ranks 17th in the nation in international enrollment, and possibly first among AAU institutions.
In response, members of the Faculty Senate mentioned other issues they hoped would be considered in the UB proposal, including increasing the amount of available classroom space on both campuses, offering larger stipends to graduate assistants in order to attract higher-quality students—UB offers $8,400 per year for up to three years to graduate assistants, compared with up to $15,000 per year offered by some peer institutions—and hiring more staff for the student counseling center.
Gayle A. Brazeau, associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, also suggested that the athletics program be given higher priority, calling it a key to attracting those out-of-state students the Mission Review II teams desire for UB.
Tripathi told senators that he will consider all faculty suggestions before sending the report to SUNY, and encouraged faculty members to email him at tripathi@buffalo.edu.
Following the presentation, Paul Vanouse, associate professor in the Department of Art, College of Arts and Sciences, handed out a suggested statement in support of his colleague in the art department, associate professor Steven J. Kurtz, whose trial date in the federal mail fraud case against him is scheduled to be set Jan. 11. Vanouse wants UB to carry the statement on its Web site; a similar statement is posted on the art department Web site of Carnegie Mellon University.
"Right now all eyes are upon us and the implications of this trial will have profound effects, not only on research and arts, but also the sciences," Vanouse said. "If we could stand behind Steven Kurtz, we'd really put out a much better message about who we are as a university."
Peter A. Nickerson, professor of pathology and chair of the Faculty Senate, responded by recommending anyone with questions speak to Vanouse after the meeting.
"I can tell you the executive committee has discussed this and we have not gone public with it. I don't want to go any further than that," Nickerson said.