September 22, 1994: Vol26n3: Greiner has dialogue with voting faculty

By STEVE COX
Reporter Staff
President William Greiner broke with tradition this year when, instead
of delivering a speech to the annual meeting of the voting faculty, he
had a conversation with them, instead.
	Greiner spoke with more than 150 faculty members at the annual
gathering, held Sept. 13 in the University at Buffalo Art Gallery  in
the Center for the Arts. In a wide ranging discussion with the
faculty, Greiner spoke of increasing UB's service commitment to the
Western New York community, of Washington's threatening political
climate toward higher education and about contributing to the
strengthening of elementary and secondary education.
	Leaving the podium aside, Greiner, in shirtsleeves, took a
relaxed posture atop a stool in the front of the room and told his
audience of faculty, department chairs and deans that, to get the most
from the university, UB needed to get the most from its talented
faculty. That means, Greiner said, being "daring, creative" and
balancing UB's obligations to public and community service, quality
undergraduate instruction and valuable intensive research.
	Faculty members, in turn, told Greiner they were confused by
mixed messages coming from a system of tenure that still values
quantities of published research above all else.
	"Every young faculty member we lose is a failure on our part,"
replied Greiner. He called for forging more creative ways to bring
people into academia and promised to reexamine standards by which
tenure decisions are made, perhaps reducing the  pressure young
professors feel to "publish or perish."
	"Among the young tenure candidates we reviewed this year,"
Greiner said, "we had some real risk takers. They went at things in
new ways. Some, for instance, had numerous valuable patents, others
were recognized leaders in their fields, but were without the usual
quantity of referee publications." The university, he concluded, needs
to look at tenure qualifications with an eye toward formally
recognizing true public service and commitment to undergraduate
education.
	On the subject of public education, Greiner said, "Education
is the difference between our society continuing to progress and
becoming an also-ran." He projected a renewed emphasis on improving K
through 12 education and challenged UB's education faculty to take
responsibility for "doing the things for science, mathematics and
critical thinking at that level that we have done here at the
university."
	The national political climate is now reflecting public
skepticism over the value of "large, research-intensive universities"
like UB, Greiner said. This will translate into a higher degree of
scrutiny by national political leaders and still tighter access to
valuable research dollars, he said. However, Greiner staunchly
defended UB as the modern version of the land-grant college, capable
of extensive research as well as meaningful contributions to community
and public service in this region. "We are the only public institution
of size with this professional profile of graduate schools - medicine,
dentistry, law and business - in this part of the country," Greiner
said.  Yet, not much of what the university does do is widely known.
"I think we have to do a better job of marketing ourselves, and I will
work on that," he said.
	"This was better than giving a speech," Greiner said after the
meeting, "because I wanted to use this forum to open meaningful
dialogue with the faculty." Greiner's prepared remarks had been
printed a week earlier in the Reporter, so the faculty members could
be ready to pepper him with questions.
	Questioned about the length of his wish list of items to
accomplish, the president said, "This is not necessarily about
tradeoffs or priorities, it's a simultaneous equation. A great
university must do all these things, and has the resources to do all
these things."