Dan Ryan is director of the Office of Career Planning and Placement.

	Ryan

What's the job outlook for the Class of 2001? With the economy starting to slow down, will graduates have a tougher time finding a job?

There certainly are signs that the economy is slowing-in fact, we saw it starting last spring as companies that were recruiting on campus were hiring for fewer positions than the year before. Across the country, even during good times, there always have been more college graduates than jobs that require a college degree. For the student who knows what he or she is looking for, and who has done things like internships or co-ops, there will be plenty of opportunities. This is particularly true for those students in the technical majors and in the sciences and math.

Does the demise of many "dot.com" companies mean that computer science no longer is the "hot" major that leads to a guaranteed job?

More than anything, the dot.com shakeup helped underscore our position that it is always good to have a broad education. Perhaps if some of these young entrepreneurs had taken some basic business courses, they still would be in business. The fact remains, however, that more and more of what we do every day involves computers, and we are going to need more people to program them, design them and fix them than ever before. Many students consider computer science "too hard" and as a result, too few students are choosing this major.

Are computer skills now crucial for all job seekers, no matter what type of job they're looking for?

Just about every job out there involves a computer in some way. You don't necessarily need to know how to program them, but if your VCR or microwave is constantly blinking "12:00," you are going to find it difficult to survive in today's work environment.

What jobs are in demand right now?

We are seeing high demand for engineers, teachers, pharmacists, Web programmers-if you can program in cold fusion, come see me right away!-accountants and retail managers.

Do the Inner Harbor development and Adelphia's investment in Buffalo-as well as the burgeoning bioinformatics field-mean an end to the local "brain drain?"

Unfortunately, I'm afraid not. Seventy five percent of the population decline in this region is people from the age of 20-34. Because the economic recovery was so late coming to the area, most local employers are not prepared for the tight labor market. In terms of pop culture, they are using "Ricky Nelson" methods to attract a "Ricky Martin" workforce-placing ads in newspapers, asking around at the country club, etc. We need to continue our efforts to better educate the local human-resources community on how to reach our students.

What's http://www.comebacktobuffalo.com? Is it making a dent in the local employment picture?

It is starting to. The university, in collaboration with the local office of the Empire State Development Corp., has sent letters to younger alumni who had moved out of state, informing them of the job growth in the region. Also, Jobsapalooza, the job fair we hold during the winter break, has attracted record numbers. Taken together, these efforts are helping to increase the communication between local employers and the people who want to work here.

I hear your office has made huge gains in the level of student satisfaction of its services. Tell me about it.

Every three years, SUNY central administration surveys students about their satisfaction with various student services on campus. In 1997, the results were not very flattering. After a great deal of strategic planning, and focused effort on the part of the staff, we are proud to say that results from this fall show that students at UB are the most satisfied of students at any of the university centers. We still are striving to improve, but it's very heartening that our efforts are paying off.

What is "UB 202"?