FSEC discusses tenure issue

At the same time, Landi added, the number of research proposals generated at the university declined 16 percent, which he called "a huge drop."

The decline in proposals, he added, can be tied to the loss of the 78.

"These were not senior people," he explained. "These were, for the most part, junior people, some of whom had been here one or two years and were rising stars, and people in their mid-careers who were well-established and well-funded and who were nationally ranked in their fields-the kind of people you would want to stay."

Landi said he finds the loss of the 78 "very disturbing" and noted that the university needs to understand better why they left and what needs to be done to slow such attrition. He said he has recommended to the provost that exit interviews be done with faculty moving on to other positions.

As for the decline in research proposals, Landi said UB has seen "a pretty sharp drop-off in the number of research proposals that are generated by the university in a year." The volume of research expenditures, the overall dollar value of externally sponsored activities, the dollar value of research awards and the number of awards also have dropped, he added.

Robert Baier, professor of oral diagnostic sciences and chair of the FSEC Committee on Research and Creative Activity, said some believe the research downturn has resulted from a changing emphasis from research to service within the university administration.

Salary may have something to do with faculty attrition.

"Some people come here expecting to move on," noted John Meacham, professor of psychology. "They expect to run through four or five institutions before the age of 40 or 45, at which point they will have their salaries up to $100,000 or $125,000....We're a way station on the way to someplace else."

Landi agreed, noting: "I think salaries had a lot to do with it."

He added, "This is a period when there was a lot of bad press on SUNY...and that helped make us a recruiting ground for research universities."

State budget stress has contributed to research declines, as well, Landi added. "In order for your proposal to be competitive, you have to have probably 20 percent of the work done and you have to have demonstrated that there is a high probability of success."

The initial research that allows faculty to write their proposals has to be funded somehow, Landi noted. Some researchers find those start-up costs in grant money that they already have, "but that's generally not enough, especially if you want to venture into something new," he said.

Morale is also an issue impacting on faculty attrition, according to Dennis Malone, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

"I think also a lot of faculty have left because of the general depression. As one of them told me, he just got tired of listening to some puffed-up, four-eyed little twit in Albany talking about the fact that we have to do more with less."

(Chris: story easily could end right here)

Landi told senators that the university also is challenged by its inability to establish and support interdisciplinary degree programs that are very common elsewhere.

"It hurts our overall research efforts" because there are many areas, such as molecular and cell biology, where disciplines are combined, yet no interdisciplinary degree program is offered.

"I don't think we are as successful as we could be in attracting students to UB because we do not offer interdisciplinary degree programs that are being offered at other universities," Landi said.