'Accountability' is Grant's Convocation theme

By RON CHURCHILL

Reporter Staff

Kerry S. Grant called on administration, faculty members and students to "make a new commitment to community and morale" during his keynote speech at UB's fourth annual University Convocation on Oct. 1.

Grant, who assumed the deanship of the College of Arts and Sciences when it was formed in July, told a crowd of several hundred of the "utter necessity that every member of our university be an active participant" in being "a source of support and energy."

During his speech in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts, Grant focused on accountability and UB's faculty.

"Progress," he said, "must ultimately be driven by changes in the faculty culture. A need for this is a heightened sense of accountability.

"Faculty, please listen carefully. It's accountability to each other. Not to the administration. Not to SUNY Albany. So I turn to the faculty and ask that each of you ask the other that each member carry a fair share of the load.

"It is a very simple matter," Grant added. "Everyone contributes, everyone gains, everyone is equally obligated."

During the talk, Grant outlined his own story, describing himself as a "marginal high-school student, an ill-directed junior-college student and an extraordinarily naive university transfer student."

However, he said, he was "transformed" by "encountering professors who cared enough to be critical and demanding in ways that somehow challenged, rather than rejected."

Referring to a recent report from a consulting firm hired to evaluate UB and its public relations, Grant noted: "Remarkably, it reported that the faculty and the staff view more negatively our service and our outcomes with our students than did the students who received our services."

Grant compared the effort required of faculty members to that of a mountain-climbing team.

"If I were here to cheerlead, I'd be wearing a varsity sweater," he added. "It is time to start climbing again.

"Imagine trying to move a climbing team forward in which various members argue, 'I don't want to climb any more. I've come this far, and I'm entitled to continue on without further exertion.'

"Each of us must climb for ourselves, and yet each of us must climb for the group at the same time," he said.

"Because the university teaches young people, and because we as faculty enjoy positions-which, if not the most lucrative in our society, are so privileged in every other way-a university constitutes trust.

"Therefore, its members have ethical responsibilities that greatly exceed those of the ordinary workplace," Grant said.

Nowadays, higher education "has lost its cachet as a guarantee of a job-a good job or perhaps any job," the dean said.

He warned of higher education becoming "an industry" and also of a tendency to focus on "credentials rather than education."

Instead, the public-research university should offer a "transformative education" that leads to "intellectual growth and change," Grant said. "We need to control the cost of higher education. We need to manage our personnel and facilities better. We need to reconsider many aspects of our values and practices.

"We are, indeed, well under way on our journey at the University at Buffalo," Grant said. "And even if the old axiom is true that 'You can tell when you're on the right road because it's all uphill,' we have come a great distance."

Commenting on Grant's message, President William R. Greiner noted, "We do need more, and our way of getting that is not going to be to hold out a tin cup. It's going to be work harder and smarter."

The convocation was preceded by a procession of faculty, staff and administrators clad in caps and academic gowns, from Founders Plaza to the Mainstage. Accompanied by students carrying banners representing campus organizations, the procession was led by a bagpiper and mace-bearer Peter A. Nickerson, professor of pathology and chair of the Faculty Senate.

Among those honored during the convocation was Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner, who was presented the United Way Leadership Award for Outstanding Public Service.

Also recognized were Wolfgang Wölck of the Department of Linguistics, named 1998 Distinguished Service Professor, and J. Ronald Gentile, a faculty member in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, named 1998 Distinguished Teaching Professor.

In addition, six faculty members, two librarians and four professional staff members were honored as 1998 recipients of the SUNY Chancellor's Awards for Excellence.

Recognized as recipients of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching were Rodney L. Doran, professor of learning and instruction; Michael G. Fuda, professor of physics; Philip G. Miles, professor of biological sciences; Richard T. Sarkin, associate professor of clinical pediatrics and director of pediatric medical student education; M. Beth Tauke, associate professor of architecture, and Nancy P. Zimmerman, assistant professor of library and information studies.

William Hepfer, associate librarian in Lockwood Memorial Library, and Ellen T. McGrath, associate librarian in the Charles B. Sears Law Library, were honored as recipients of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship.

John M. Grela, director of the Department of Public Safety; Eileen L. Hassett, assistant to the dean of engineering; Sean P. Sullivan, vice provost for academic information and planning, and Nelson E. Townsend, associate vice president for student affairs, special assistant to the president and former director of athletics, were recognized as recipients of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Professional Service