Maintaining UB's current organizational structure is not. The conversations this fall have been lively. It is impossible to summarize the many conflicting views represented. We must find ways to bring faculty together, perhaps with a faculty club. Not much is gained by artificially bringing together faculty with no deep intellectual affinity.
Hybrid departments are often mediocre.
In the recent past, however, we have often admitted more freshmen than we can comfortably handle. On the graduate level, we have spread ourselves too thinly, trying to maintain a profile similar to that of a much larger university. We must focus our efforts in fewer directions. Let us build a few genuinely excellent programs we can be proud of, even at the cost of abandoning other programs. The most innovative and exciting research and instruction is interdisciplinary.