By now, everybody knows that President John B. Simpson is leaving – it's just that nobody knows when yet. He's been in the news this week after announcing that he will stay on as president until the search for his replacement is over. We've been trying to get a hold of his office all week, and in the middle of production on Thursday, President Simpson called us back himself, from out of town. Here's the whole interview:
The Spectrum: How did you feel last semester went after announcing your retirement, as you had thought that it would be your last semester at UB?
John B. Simpson: I think things ran fine. I let everybody know that I was going to be the president until I left, and I think that I was in charge and that things went very well. I don't have any of the kinds of feelings that one might have had if [I was a] lame duck. I think things went very well.
TS: Have you had any involvement in the presidential search up to this point?
JBS: No, I don't have any hand in that. But that is by design and is certainly something that I am personally in favor of. I don't think I should have a hand in selecting my successor.
TS: News reports have mentioned that you were asked to stay on past your initial retirement date of Jan. 15. How did that happen? Who, specifically, asked you to stay?
JBS: I had a conversation with SUNY officials and Mr. Jacobs, who is the chair of the UB Council. The search that was being conducted by the search committee, of which Mr. Jacobs was the chair, assured me that they were close to identifying a successor and asked me if I would stay on until that successor was identified. And I thought about it, and given the awkwardness of trying to put an interim in without having the search in place of identifying a successor, I agreed to stay on until that happened, knowing that it would happen very soon.
TS: How soon will that be? Is there a timetable on when the search will conclude?
JBS: No, I don't have a timetable, but my suspicion is very soon, which I would say is a matter of weeks.
TS: Do you have any plans for the university during your extended time here?
JBS: The most important thing is making sure the university is running smoothly, and I think having a president in place assures that. There is a good deal of work that is going on with this year's legislative session and coordination with SUNY, and I guess that those are the things that I would be most interested in seeing take place until completion.
TS: As the newly elected legislators in Albany have recently started their jobs, what is your outlook on how UB 2020 will play out, with new lawmakers?
JBS: There are a couple of things I'd point out. Governor Cuomo has expressed interest in the place of SUNY, and it really means it's research universities because they are the ones that have the impact far and away, in the largest sense. He is very interested in the role that SUNY can play in the areas of economic development and redevelopment of New York. I think in Buffalo, that I have made that case for a number of years. The community and the university understand it and support it. So that's also the good. It's also the case that Mr. Cuomo has mentioned UB 2020 specifically on a number of occasions when he has been asked about economic development and higher education. So I think that is simply as good as we might hope for. The governor is aware of what we are doing. I think he understands it, I think he is supportive of it. So that's good for the university and for UB 2020.
TS: When the presidential search ends and the new candidate is selected, will you have any words for him? Do you train him/her at all? How does the transition take place?
JBS: I think that always with a new president, there is a substantial learning curve, simply because the job of being of a president is so different from any job than anyone has probably done in their career. And moreover, there are idiosyncrasies that pertain to any university, and UB and New York certainly have their share. My view is largely that I would do anything that the new president asked me to be helpful, but, having said that, it is not my job to push myself, or my views, on the president. Rather, my job is to be helpful in the transition while recognizing that I am not the president; the new president is, and my job is to help him or her succeed in this administration.
TS: How will the transition to the new president affect students on a day-to-day basis?
JBS: I think the more that your president succeeds in making the case for the value of the university – and therefore assuring that the kinds of resources that are needed to deliver the very best education that can be delivered – these are things that a good president can do, can be helpful with, and in that sense, they very much do affect what the students sees day-to-day.
TS: What's the first thing you're going to do once you're officially retired?
JBS: There are two things I really want to do. The first is, I have some work I want to do on my house – carpentry and woodwork. … I look forward to doing that, and the second thing is that I want to really get back to writing an article I started writing 12 years ago. It is a fairly significant piece of writing and thinking, and I'm looking forward to having time to get back to it, which I simply haven't had, despite my best intentions over the past dozen or so years.
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