UB’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) search committee finalized four candidates in a search to appoint a successor to replace CAS dean Robin Schulze, who resigned last summer.
The search comes months after Schulze announced that CAS would undergo a reevaluation of its budget model in response to a rapid investment in new faculty hires, which could not be stabilized due to a decrease in enrollment rates and tuition revenue last spring. Before the announcement, Classics department students led protests for over a month, with multiple demonstrators calling for Schulze’s resignation.
The four finalists spoke in individual public forums — each highlighting their priorities and goals for the role as CAS dean — over four days in Capen Hall’s Buffalo Room, from Tuesday, Feb. 11 to Friday, Feb. 14.
Jeffrey Grabill, University of Leeds
Currently deputy vice chancellor of education at the University of Leeds, Grabill said that his main priorities would be to boost interdisciplinary collaborations across CAS departments, strengthen relationships with international institutions and improve undergraduate engagement in experiential learning.
“We must absolutely have genuinely compelling, exciting and future-facing programs of study for our students,” Grabill said. “We have an opportunity to take a look at what we offer. Does what we offer, does what we want to offer in the near future, align with our research and creativity strengths?”
While Grabill did not provide a decisive plan for CAS’s future, he said that he intends to have conversations with faculty and students better to understand the college’s strengths and daily challenges.
“I don’t know what your hopes and dreams are for what you want in your careers and what you want as a department. I need to know that,” Grabill said. “I will spend that time with you. I would enjoy every single minute of spending that time with you.”
Mitchell McKinney, University of Akron
As the dean of the University of Akron’s Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences, McKinney is familiar with the role’s responsibilities and challenges.
McKinney said his primary commitment is to support the faculty and students within UB’s CAS.
“We will not be successful as a college unless our units are successful: you chairs, directors, working with your faculty, your students,” McKinney said. “I [have] got to create that environment, that culture of respect and recognition, where we have a community of belonging, where you wish to be a part of this.”
McKinney plans to highlight interdisciplinary collaborations and increase cluster hirings of faculty for projects in order to increase CAS’s academic and research standing.
“We can be stronger and do more from this shared, collaborative perspective,” McKinney said.
McKinney says he has experienced challenges similar to those CAS faces, specifically budget cuts where he cited the efforts he made to reduce the University of Akron’s budget by approximately $40 million through academic program consolidation.
“Where do we find these efficiencies? Can we be creative? Can we find ways to collaborate, to merge, to put together?” McKinney said. “And out of that innovation, something new comes.”
Hollis Robbins, University of Utah
Robbins, a special advisor for the humanities at the University of Utah, said that her primary focus is to have open communication with CAS faculty and take cues from them to determine how to best handle CAS’s funding model.
“My skill set has been seeing faculty excellence and asking, ‘How can I best support you?’” Robbins said. “What are the ways that we can tell the world the excellence of your research, the extraordinary nature of your teaching, how to support you, how to support departments, how to make sure you’re recession-proof, or legislature-proof, or at this point, DC-proof.”
Robbins said that she plans to direct resources, with input from departmental chairs, towards increasing engagement in research and amplifying scholarship visibility to help UB become one of the top 25 public universities.
“Directing resources at rising in the rankings and being a top department is granular and reachable,” Robbins said.
Jennifer Read, University at Buffalo
Read, chair of UB’s psychology department, has been employed at UB for approximately 22 years — a background that she believes positions her to take on the responsibilities and challenges facing UB’s CAS. She aims to move UB towards its goal of being one of the top 25 public universities, enhance enrollment and improve research.
As an internal candidate, Read said she knows what CAS can potentially accomplish. “I’ve been sitting in all of the rooms you have and feeling the same sense of incredible hope and optimism about my colleagues and what a great place this is to be,” Read said. “I am here by choice. There’s no place else I would want to be. This is a great place with great scholars.”
To resolve CAS’s budgetary deficit, Read pointed towards the possibility of outside funding — separate from the majority funding that comes from enrollment rates and fees — and described it as an “initial period of resources” to allow the college to set up a long-term financial plan.
While there is no set financial plan for outside funding, Read said she intends to work closely with CAS faculty and the UB administration on the issue.
“I think it’s going to have to be creatively thinking about where can we find more resources, where so that people can flourish, but that process is going to have to be a creative one with faculty and administration,” Read said. “I think we are going to need to come together to think about what is possible and where can we find resources.”
UB faculty, staff and students have until 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17, to submit feedback on the finalists.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor and can be reached at mylien.lai@ubspectrum.com
Amy Aracena is a copy editor and can be reached at amy.aracena@ubspectrum.com
The news desk can be reached at news@ubspectrum.com
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor at The Spectrum. Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram.
Photo: Courtesy of Ken Smith
