Dissolution podcast
A big thanks to Jim Milles of the UB Law Library for dedicating a Check This Out podcast to the UB School of Informatics dissolution. A number of students-- Communications, Informatics, and MLS-- turned out tonight to voice their concerns. Jenn at Library Matters has posted her notes and Kevin Lim has even posted some pictures. But please do listen to the podcast and you can even phone in your own comments to Jim's Comments Line ((716) 989-4422 or Skype "jmilles").
I wont repeat what others have already said, but I will say it was interesting to get a perspective from the Informatics students, who feel especially abandoned by the decision and by the lack of communication. The future of their program seems very up-in-the-air at this point and the conspicuous silence from the provost is not helping the situation. It really is a pity, given the quality of students it is producing and the demand in the job market for students with their skills, that UB is failing to appreciate the potential.
I am, not to dwell on the past to much, still intrigued by the strange way the information was released. The first press release stated only that the Dean of the School had agreed to step down, followed a few days later by the explanation that the School was in fact being reorganized. My guess is that Tripathi had not been fully prepared to release the full story yet, but Dean Penniman was about to let the cat out of the bag so Tripathi beat him to it with that hasty second release. The Provost seemed to be caught totally off guard by the sudden media attention, and thus the best he could come up with was some vauge, meaningless management speak. Or maybe he is just really really bad at this sort of thing.
Next step for us is to meet with the Provost and try to get some answers. Maybe he's the sort that's more forthcoming in person.
I wont repeat what others have already said, but I will say it was interesting to get a perspective from the Informatics students, who feel especially abandoned by the decision and by the lack of communication. The future of their program seems very up-in-the-air at this point and the conspicuous silence from the provost is not helping the situation. It really is a pity, given the quality of students it is producing and the demand in the job market for students with their skills, that UB is failing to appreciate the potential.
I am, not to dwell on the past to much, still intrigued by the strange way the information was released. The first press release stated only that the Dean of the School had agreed to step down, followed a few days later by the explanation that the School was in fact being reorganized. My guess is that Tripathi had not been fully prepared to release the full story yet, but Dean Penniman was about to let the cat out of the bag so Tripathi beat him to it with that hasty second release. The Provost seemed to be caught totally off guard by the sudden media attention, and thus the best he could come up with was some vauge, meaningless management speak. Or maybe he is just really really bad at this sort of thing.
Next step for us is to meet with the Provost and try to get some answers. Maybe he's the sort that's more forthcoming in person.
posted by Eli Guinnee at 04:05
1 Comments:
An important update: please see Jenn's Library Matters blog for a statement from Dean Penniman which gives more insider information. Could it possibly make Tripathi's decision seem even more arbitrary...
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