The Daily Bulletin Archive

From the Co-chairs of the School of Arts and Sciences Task Force
Since May 15, the task force charged with creating the underlying structures for the college’s new School of Arts and Sciences has been meeting weekly via Zoom conferencing. During these meetings, the 13 members have shared their ideas and insights to ensure that the creation of the new school aligns with Buffalo State College’s mission, vision, and values while equally representing the tenets of the current School of Arts and Humanities and School of Natural and Social Sciences.

During these virtual meetings, we’ve been struck by the level of respect that all members of the committee have demonstrated toward one another. Faculty members from the sciences have made sure that language reflecting the artistic and creative work of the arts and humanities is included. Likewise, Arts and Humanities faculty and staff members have called for inclusion of language describing the critical problem-solving and research emblematic of the sciences.

We’re happy to report that the task force has been working diligently to craft the new school’s mission, vision, and values statements. The members also serve on at least one subcommittee. Throughout May and June, they have been handling such tasks as writing the job description for the new dean, creating bylaws, and crafting promotion and tenure procedures.

Our goal is to have the dean’s job description completed by the end of July so the college can start a search for this position in the fall. And we intend to continue working on the other tasks until they are completed, ideally by the end of the summer.

Thanks to the contributions of the task force—a diverse group of voices and experiences—we’re confident that we will emerge with a thoughtful, unique, and thorough finished product that we all can be proud of.

Carol DeNysschen, Chair and Professor
Health, Nutrition, and Dietetics

Mark Warford, Chair and Associate Professor
Modern and Classical Languages