October 18, 2001-Vol33n7: UB improving, Capaldi says

UB improving, Capaldi says
Provost briefs Faculty Senate on university's performance

By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor

The university is a better institution today than it was at this time last year, Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi told members of the Faculty Senate at the group's Oct. 9 meeting.

Capaldi briefed senators on how UB performed during the past year when compared to the top research universities in the country. The data she used came from a report, "The Top American Research Universities 2000," issued by TheCenter at the University of Florida.

She pointed out that in addition to the gains cited by TheCenter, other improvements have been made on campus as well.

"We had a very good year and I think we should look back and be pleased at what we've done, and also look forward to how we'll continue this trajectory up," she said. "As long as we're improving every year, we're getting there. As a university, we got better."

Capaldi noted that one of the most critical measures of research universities is, naturally, research. In sponsored research—the standard that is used nationally to rate research universities—UB increased on both federal research and total research, which includes money from corporations, foundations, the state and the institution's own contributions.

Corporate-sponsored research will become increasingly important to UB, she said, adding that the university has established the Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach to improve tech-transfer efforts.

Another measure used to rate research institutions is faculty quality, Capaldi said, noting there are two measures that are used nationally: the number of faculty members who are members of the national academies, and the number of major faculty awards, which includes such national recognition as Guggenheim fellowships, NEH fellowships and NSF young investigator awards.

Capaldi said she is not a fan of the national academy measure. The average age of members in the national academies is high, she said, so "I don't think we want to go out recruiting people in the national academies to improve our ranking on this measure."

Instead, UB should recruit excellent junior faculty members, "and support them and grow our own national academy members," she said.

Capaldi said she considers faculty awards to be the more important faculty-quality measure, and UB improved in this category.

On another indicator of a university's research—doctorates granted and post-doctoral appointees—UB does very well due to its large professional/graduate-school enrollment, she said.

While TheCenter report did not show an improvement in undergraduate quality at UB, the data that was used to rank that measure was from 1999, she said. Undergraduate quality has improved in 2000 and 2001, she added. A strong initiative to improve the quality of the freshman class has resulted in an improvement of average SAT scores by 30 points and GPA and other indicators of student quality have risen as well, she said.

She also described other areas of improvement at the university during the past year, including the installation of news signs around the two campuses and the upgrading of classrooms.

Capaldi noted as well that the university has changed the method it uses in preparing its budget, making the process "transparent" and giving the money directly to the deans to improve the quality of their schools.

"We don't micromanage," she said, noting that the deans were asked to provide the Provost's Office with the 10 best programs of their kind in the country, and the measures that show what makes them the best. The performance of the units will be evaluated based on these measures, she said.

The money in the budget is allocated by the principles spelled out in a document, "The Budget Process at UB," prepared by the Faculty Senate Budget Priorities Committee in consultation with Capaldi and Senior Vice President Robert J. Wagner, that, she said, "makes for a very clear accountability system, but with flexibility among some funding to the deans."

"I think everybody understands the rules of the game, now, so that people can move forward without having to worry someone else is being treated more fairly or there's money hiding under the table, or if you're nicer to Betty, you get more money. It doesn't work that way," she stressed. "Money comes from performance and from improving, either your workload or your performance in research.

"I'm happy. I think we're a better university, this year, this time, than we were last year at this time," she said. "I think each year if we can say that, we're going the right way."

In other business, Capaldi and Peter Nickerson, professor of pathology and interim chair of the Budget Priorities Committee, provided details of "The Budget Process at UB."

For the full document, click here.