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New division continues to serve as "pipeline" to UB
By MARY COCHRANE
Contributing Editor
UB's newly formed Division of Continuing and Professional Studies is continuing to serve as an important pipeline to public higher education for residents in Western New York and beyond, the unit's leader told the Faculty Senate Executive Committee yesterday.
Sherryl Weems, associate vice provost of the division, noted that her unit, which includes the Educational Opportunity Center and Millard Fillmore College, has a combined history at UB of more than 120 years. EOC, which has operated for more than 40 years, has helped thousands of students earn GEDs, enroll in college and secure employment, while MFC has served as UB's "night school" for nearly 80 years, and recently began focusing on continuing education and professional studies for returning students.
"These are people who are out there in the workforce, who are considering returning to college, who are coming back as what we used to call 'nontraditional students,' but who are fast becoming traditional students," Weems said.
Both entities will continue to promote the UB 2020 strategic plan to provide greater access to the university for surrounding communities, which have always included Western New York, but now extend throughout the entire state, Weems said.
As part of its mission, the division has been developing industry-specific courses and programs that match growing business initiatives in surrounding communities, she said.
"We provide an opportunity for people with great ideas to incubate them," she said, adding, "We want to aggressively seek those things that will bring life to the community and to our institution."
One such business is the biomedical device manufacturing industry, which Weems called "a huge market here in Buffalo, but a very quiet market." Further investigation by her division turned up "as large a market" in Central New York.
Speaking with industry representatives in Syracuse, Weems and her staff "found that there was tremendous interest and opportunity to link programming emanating from the University at Buffalo, using our faculty resources, programming and curriculum, and delivering that to the Central New York region.
Weems said UB has applied for grant funding of more than $1 million to continue this effort in both regions, and her division has plans to offer four courses involving biomedical device manufacturing beginning in January.
"This is an indication of the links we are able to make through our workforce development initiative in our communities," Weems said, noting that the new courses will provide an opportunity for employees already in the industry to obtain certification and additional credits toward degrees.
In other business, the FSEC heard from Joshua Hancock, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC), the governing body for men's social fraternities at UB, which educates such organizations recognized by the university about community service, multicultural issues, alcohol abuse and chapter management. Joining Hancock was Gerald Schoenle, chief of university police, who said he and Hancock met recently with Anthony Barba, chief of the Buffalo Police E-District, which includes the University Heights area, to discuss how UB can work with the police to promote better relations between the university's fraternities and area residents.
Hancock said he proposed providing Barba with a list of recognized Greek organizations at UB, which include Alpha Epsilon Pi, Alpha Sigma Phi, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Kappa Theta, Pi Lambda Phi, Sigma Chi Omega, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Sigma Pi. The trio also discussed neighbors' concerns, which included loud parties, the physical appearance of fraternity houses and absentee landlords. The meeting was a first step toward a more cooperative working partnership between UB and area police, according to Schoenle, who credited Hancock for coordinating the sit-down.
"It did a whole lot for everyone to understand each party's concerns," Schoenle said. "I give Josh a lot of credit for pulling everyone together. This can only help the university."
The FSEC also approved a proposal from the Office of the Provost to change the name of a department in the School of Public Health and Health Professions from Health Behavioral Sciences to the Department of Health Behavior.