The release of the document, which outlines the changes-both administrative and philosophical-that Headrick says the university must undergo if it is to become a premier public-research institution, stirred up the campus like nothing else in recent memory.

But the dust appears to have settled, and the university is moving forward, with the academic planning document serving as a blueprint of the "investments" UB must make in the educational portion of the enterprise.

The university is making steady progress in implementing the individual goals detailed in the plan, according to Headrick.

In fact, he says, in five years UB will measure up to those goals.

And when it does, "I think we'll get a recognition within New York State that we are a key part of the economic rebirth of our region in New York and (in) sustaining the general economic development of the state," he says. "That's critically important for New York, as well as for defining the role of the university."

The role of the university, Headrick recently told the Faculty Senate, is being detailed in the mission review statement that is being prepared for SUNY central administration. The message of the statement-outlining UB's vision for its future-will be that "UB is a comprehensive, public, research, flagship university; a strong university that is competitive with other good public universities and is woefully underfunded."

President William R. Greiner's vision for UB places the university on a par with the great Midwestern universities, such as the University of Michigan or the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign-universities, Greiner notes, that provide cutting-edge research and public service, in addition to superb academics.

Headrick's vision is a mite narrower, at least for the immediate future.

UB will have to increase significantly its enrollment from the current 23,000 in order to be "competitive across the board" with the major Midwestern universities, he says.

"Before we get to Illinois and Michigan, we have to go through North Carolina and Virginia," he says, referring to the mid-sized universities, colleagues with UB in the Association of American Universities, that he envisioned as UB's peers in his planning document.

The document presented four main goals as being key to UB's overall objective of becoming a premier, public-research university: reorganizing the arts and sciences, encouraging interdisciplinary activity through the creation of centers and institutes, reworking programs to make a master's degree a "target" degree and improving the quality of doctoral programs.

College of Arts and Sciences

just "the beginning"

Headrick acknowledges that having strong programs in the arts and sciences is crucial to any major university.

And although UB created the College of Arts and Sciences this fall to do just that, forming the college "is the beginning; it's not the end," he points out.

"We can't have a major university unless we have strength in the arts and sciences."

Once the administrative reorganization of the former faculties of Arts and Letters, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences and Mathematics is complete, there will have to be "some serious planning for the arts and sciences as a whole" that will emphasize some programs more than others, he says.

"We've got to review where we are and then make some more explicit determinations about how each of these areas is going to develop and where we're going to invest, in terms of maintaining and building real strength and excellence in areas where we want to maintain credible, solid programs, but not necessarily ones that are going to be outstanding on the national scene."

A strong program in the arts and sciences will aid UB's goal of making the master's degree the "target" degree, a standard that, Headrick explains, will be expected as the nation moves into the 21st century with a work force that will require broader and higher levels of competence.

In making the master's degree the target degree for students entering the university as freshmen or transfers, UB is "trying to stake out a place in higher education and in SUNY; it would give us a very distinctive cast," Headrick says.

A combined BS/MS program in medicinal chemistry already has been approved by the state Department of Education, while proposals for combined programs in mathematics, applied economics and civil, structural and environmental engineering are pending in Albany.

This strategy also would alter the university's enrollment mix to include a greater percentage of graduate students, which would help in stemming the recent decline in graduate enrollment, he says.

Graduate education-particularly on the doctoral level-received much attention in Headrick's planning document.

And while the document recommended that one-quarter of UB's graduate programs be in the top quartile of the National Research Council rankings, Headrick says he now thinks at least one-third of the programs should be in that quartile, with a few "well up in the top quartile."

Most other major universities rank about one-third of their programs in that range, with several in the top 10 or top 20, he adds.

But investing in some doctoral programs to bring them up to that top quartile will mean consolidating or dropping weaker ones.

Headrick points to faculty members as playing a key role in determining which programs to drop and which ones to emphasize, since they should know where student interests, as well as demands in the job market, lie.

These types of factors have contributed to recent program consolidations, including the merging of the Department of Computer Science and the computer engineering component of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences into the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the soon-to-be merged Department of Communication and the School of Library Studies into a School of Information Studies.

There are broad areas where UB as an institution "clearly has a leg up on the rest of the SUNY system," Headrick says, such as the health sciences, including the biological and chemical sciences, and engineering.

"Those are the areas in terms of academic research development, in terms of translation of that into meaningful contributions to the economy and society, where people are looking to universities to be major engines of innovation and contributions to the economy," he says.

UB's size fosters interdisciplinary activity

Headrick notes that one of the strengths of a mid-sized university like UB is the opportunities faculty members have to work with colleagues from other disciplines, "developing new ideas, new knowledge and innovations of one kind or another that won't necessarily come out of working within the traditional boundaries of the disciplines."

Moreover, the diversity of UB's arts and sciences programs and the variety of professional schools represented at the university also encourage interdisciplinary activity, he says.

While that type of work already is happening at UB, he stresses, "we can do more."

Among interdisciplinary programs recently established are the Environment and Society Institute and the Institute for Research and Education on Women and Gender. Initial proposals for both groups came directly from the faculty.

In addition, the UB site of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, a National Science Foundation-funded center devoted to the study of the booming field of geographic information science (GIS), incorporates the work of faculty members and graduate students in a broad range of departments. The university's emphasis on research that crosses disciplinary boundaries has helped put it at the forefront of the field. The National Science Foundation just this month awarded UB a $2.2 million grant for a unique project in GIS. A new multidisciplinary doctoral-level concentration in GIS-believed to be the first in the nation-has been established at UB and starting next fall, approximately 18 fellowships of $15,000 per year will be available to doctoral students in seven departments.

Headrick says that the committee that was formed to develop procedures and policies for the creation of interdisciplinary centers and institutes has presented its initial report. That report currently is making its way through various campus constituency groups.

Opportunities to build interdisciplinary interactions with colleagues and maintain important faculty infrastructure, such as laboratory space, equipment and staff support, are keys to investing in faculty, both in retaining valued faculty members, as well as bringing in top-notch faculty members with fresh ideas and approaches, he maintains.

Investing in the quality of life

UB also is investing in its student body, both academically and socially.

On the recruitment front, the Office of Admissions is making more direct-mail contacts with high-school students, as well as conducting telemarketing using a computer program called Forecast Plus to identify and personally call prospective students who are considered more likely to enroll at UB.

It soon will open an office on Park Avenue in Manhattan to increase the university's outreach to prospective students in the New York metro area.

The university also has instituted a merit-based scholarship program to raise the profile of the entering freshman class.

The effort appears to be paying off. At the undergraduate level, UB this fall exceeded its targets for both freshmen-with a headcount of 2,932, 132 above the target-and transfer students-1,683, 83 above target. It's the second year in a row that numbers in both categories are up. Moreover, the mean combined SAT score for members of the Class of 2002 increased 11 points, to 1145, an improvement that administrators say faculty members should see in the classroom.

To improve retention once students enroll, UB has begun some block registration-enrolling small groups of students in the same sections of required courses-so they get to know one another.

The university also has expanded greatly the number of sections-from 10 to 54-of the "UB 101" orientation course it offers each fall to help more freshmen learn their way around the university.

As the university's chief academic officer, Headrick notes that his natural focus is on the academic needs of the students. But it's also extremely important to address their other "support" needs, he adds.

"Truly one of the strengths of having a College of Arts and Sciences is that we're going to get some focus on how to, in total, serve the needs of undergraduate students, both their educational needs as well as the other support needs of undergraduates in this kind of environment (a large, comprehensive university).

"Without the students, there is no reason to have a university."

The university is moving to address other "quality of life" issues in various ways, including the construction of housing-both graduate housing with the Flickinger Court complex on Chestnut Ridge Road adjacent to the North Campus, as well as the current project under way to build undergraduate housing on a site bounded by the Audubon Parkway and Hadley and Rensch roads-and the upgrade of the athletics program to Division I-A, to be completed next fall with the move of the football program into the Mid-American Conference.

Headrick notes that for UB to move forward toward its goals, all members of the university community will have to be involved.

"We've all got to contribute to improving, not only the quality of this university as we know itŠbut we've all got to participate in shaping the image of this university that fits with our aspirations and our reality, so that we are attractive to students, so that when we make commitments about what we're providing, we honor those commitments to our students and to our graduates," he says. "These are critically important."