Elections are in progress for the next Chair of the Faculty Senate, who will serve a term beginning July 1 and running through June 30, 2013. The Faculty Senate is elected as UB's official representative body for the Voting Faculty.
The two candidates for the position are Ezra B. Zubrow, professor in anthropology and adjunct professor in geography, and Peter A. Nickerson, director of the pathology graduate program.
This year's election will be extremely significant, as the Faculty Senate will be presented with a number of changes and pressing issues. It will have to select UB's 15th president, work with the relatively new SUNY chancellor and the recently elected Governor Andrew Cuomo, and deal with the budget crisis for both the state and the SUNY system.
Zubrow currently stands as the Faculty Senate executive representative for the College of Arts and Sciences. Nickerson is currently a SUNY Senator on the Faculty Senate and was chair from 2004 to 2006.
In Zubrow's platform, he promises to lead "a truly democratic Faculty Senate that will listen to all opinions and will appreciate the diversity of the faculty with respect and understanding." Zubrow encourages the role of faculty in institutional governance at UB and lists the Senate as the "faculty's most important agent for creating the university's value and identity."
"I believe in the public research university," Zubrow said. "I fear that what is happening in higher education in the U.S. is that public universities are being relegated to being simply teaching universities and that the research university will be left to the privates…and I don't want that to happen."
Zubrow hopes to reexamine whether the capital and operative expenditures are as fixed as they seem to be, and clarify private and public joint operations. If elected as chair of the Faculty Senate, Zubrow hopes to create a more "pro-active Senate." Additionally, Zubrow stressed the need for transparency between the Research Foundation and the UB Foundation.
In terms of the election of the university's next president, Zubrow is looking for somebody who is similarly committed to doing a thorough reexamination of the university's budget.
"I hope the new president will be pro-active with solutions to the budget crisis and will think about going outside of the usual budget boxes," Zubrow said.
Zubrow indicated that the Faculty Senate is involved with anything that is related to academic curriculum or academic quality.
"Most things that have to do with students are under the egis of the Faculty Senate," Zubrow said. "The Senate worries about what programs will be taught and [whether] faculty members will be full-time teachers versus part-time teachers. [The Senate] will worry about the fact that journalism is not accredited. All of this is highly relevant to students."
Students should be concerned about what's happening with the Faculty Senate, according to Zubrow.
"As head of the Faculty Senate, I would want, very much, to interact much more with students than we already are," Zubrow said. "I think the university, given the budget, is going to have a serious crisis. I think it is really important that the faculty and the students work together to save this university."
Zubrow has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level, researched and written 11 books and over 100 articles, and received $17 million in grant money. Additionally, he has served twice on the Faculty Senate and both chaired and participated in various Faculty Senate committees. Zubrow also served as president of the Buffalo Center Chapter of the United University Professions and spent nine years as vice president for academics.
In Nickerson's platform, he stresses his belief that the "Faculty Senate provides the mechanism for open discussion with opportunity to offer solutions to the problems [the University] faces." Nickerson stresses the importance of the vision of the Faculty to the administration, and the future of UB.
"The voice of the faculty needs to be heard clearly during the interactions with the new president to articulate the needs of the UB faculty," Nickerson said in his platform. "The quality of university life must be improved."
Nickerson was unavailable for comment as of press time.
According to the Bylaws of the Voting Faculty, the faculty of UB "affirms its commitment to collegiality as the most effective basis upon which to manage the affairs of and maintain excellence in this university."
The Faculty Senate is consultative to the university president and provost and also works with the senior administration in "recommending, drafting, revising, and implementing all academic policies" considered appropriate to the faculty's interests and comparative activities. This includes promotion and tenure criteria and the improvement of standards for nearly all aspects of undergraduate education, according to a letter on the Senate's website by Robert Hoeing, current chair of the Faculty Senate.
Hoeing was also unavailable for comment as of press time.
The election is currently ongoing with a deadline date of Feb. 22. The next Faculty Senate meeting is Tuesday, March 1 at the Center For Tomorrow on North Campus.
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Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
