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A glimpse of administrative life
Four faculty members selected to participate in Faculty in Leadership Program
By KEVIN FRYLING
Reporter Staff Writer
Four senior faculty members have been selected to participate in a program designed to supplement their experiences as researchers and scholars with administrative duties that acquaint them with important issues in higher education.
CARTWRIGHT
The four members of the 2006-07 Faculty in Leadership class are Alexander Cartwright, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Andreas Daum, professor in the Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences; Wesley Hicks, professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute; and Thomas Russo, professor in the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Faculty leaders are paired with a senior member of the administration in the offices of the President and the Provost. They will conduct projects ranging in topic from undergraduate education and professional development to translational research and the UB 2020 strategic planning initiative.
DAUM
Satish Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said the Faculty in Leadership Program provides a unique opportunity for faculty members to take an active role in the university's administration without a complete shift in their professional commitments.
"It is important for the university to provide opportunities where faculty can test the waters and determine whether an administrative career is compatible with their professional goals and skills," said Tripathi, noting that participants receive a part-time release from teaching.
HICKS
"We hope to learn from our faculty," he added. "Their insights, research and experience provide us with perspective that is incredibly valuable."
Daum said the Faculty in Leadership Program interested him as a chance to view UB in terms of the "big picture."
"I want to learn how all the diverse components that make UB—from the research efforts of the schools and student life to administration of finances and representation abroad—are ultimately interconnected." He said the program offers participants access to meetings with representatives from all branches of the Office of the Provost, as well as UB in general.
RUSSO
Daum's project will focus on issues related to undergraduate education, an issue that he said deserves more attention in terms of UB's strategic planning process.
"UB's undergraduate population is one of our greatest assets, not only due to its mere scale, but because of its diversity and highly talented students," he explained.
"I think it's important to change perspective once in a while. I hope that I can bring a mixture of intellectual curiosity and fresh ideas—grounded in research and teaching—and the ability to raise questions outside the box," he added.
The opportunity to step outside the familiar "microcosm" that surrounds him as a researcher, professor and clinician sparked Russo's interest in the program.
"I thought I might be able to use my skills and talents for something beneficial on a university-wide basis," he said.
The main focus of Russo's project will be to encourage faculty members to seek membership in professional associations for which they are qualified.
"The President and Provost's offices feel that the University at Buffalo has a faculty that is far more talented than is recognized on a national and international level," he said. In addition to the boost in prestige UB receives from faculty who are a part of professional organizations, Russo pointed out that such membership also enhances the personal reputations of those who join.
Hicks said his long-standing academic and clinical interest in translational research prompted his involvement in the Faculty in Leadership Program. As a member of the Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR) advisory board for the past four years, Hicks said there is a need at UB to further coordinate resources to reach the goals of STOR and other programs devoted to translational research—the organization of people and resources across disciplines to develop strategies that address complex health-care issues.
"We require a formal administrative infrastructure that unites the work and resources of the clinically based units—medicine, dentistry, nursing, occupational and physical therapy—with those of the other science disciplines on the various university campuses, such as the North Campus and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus," said Hicks.
"I applied to the program to broaden my knowledge of university resources and enhance my personal administrative skills," he added.
Cartwright plans to focus his work on maximizing and measuring the success of UB's strategic strengths initiative. His interest in the program grew out of a desire to understand more about the complex issues involved in the operation of a major institution such as UB, he said.
"This experience will provide me with the background and knowledge to help me in future and current administrative duties," said Cartwright.
"I hope that direct interaction with the administration will allow me to provide necessary input to ensure that the strategic strength initiatives establish mechanisms that allow faculty to be more productive in their scholarly activities," he said.