D. Bruce Johnstone, University Professor and former chancellor of the State University of New York system, will produce a study titled "Public Higher Education and the Imperative of Productivity: The Voice of Faculty."

As public colleges and universities like UB face cutbacks, a greater emphasis is being placed on improved faculty-productivity practices. "The Voice of Faculty" project will bring together core faculty senate and union leaders to discuss differing teaching loads, as well as evaluation and accountability practices.

Johnstone explained that exploring these issues is essential to increasing awareness of productivity among faculty, who are "capable of grasping the problem and contributing to its solution." It will add not only to the discussion of faculty productivity in the SUNY system, but also in public university systems across the nation.

It is critical for SUNY faculty to be fully engaged in open forums on higher education," said Johnstone. "Faculty leaders and university administrators are now beginning to encourage faculty in the quest for solving productivity issues and in how to deal with faculty who are quite clearly no longer productive."

Recent feedback on productivity from SUNY-wide faculty and union leaders made it clear that this study was needed. Faculty productivity at SUNY schools can have a widespread effect, Johnstone said.

"We need to address the question of how we plan to continue teaching students, serving the community and performing research, all with less revenue."