Provost Suzanne Buckley

Favorable winds of change have swept through the first three years of Dr. Suzanne C. Buckley’s service as Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs at Alfred University.

“I was attracted to Alfred because of its distinguished academic reputation, rich history, excellent presidential leadership, talented, collegial and dedicated faculty, staff and students, manageable challenges and many opportunities,” Provost Buckley says.

She is not disappointed. One of the most pleasing outcomes during her time at AU to date, says Dr. Buckley, is the interest in having “greater opportunity for collaboration across the schools and colleges, divisions and offices.”

One of the hallmarks of an AU education, she says, is the opportunity for students to take courses and classes outside of their selected majors, schools or colleges. For example, an engineer may take a dance class, or an art major may study environmental science.

That option to expand knowledge and enroll in classes across “borders” is beginning to increase, with more students opting for a double major or a dual-degree. Faculty interest is growing as well. Recently, says Dr. Buckley, there has been an “increased interest among students and faculty for a dual-degree;” a faculty committee is examining ways to facilitate the process. Several dual-programs getting close scrutiny for the future are degrees in art or engineering with a business component, attainable within five years. There is also much more to be cultivated in the way of internships, co-ops, service learning, study away and other academic and co-curricular experiences, says the Provost.

Additional bragging rights come along with AU’s outstanding reputation in many areas and with opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students to work side-by-side with acclaimed faculty members, as well as have ready access to state-of-the art equipment. The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences was awarded a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, and the programs in Art & Design, Engineering, and Business have been praised by their national accrediting associations. Art & Design continues to be nationally ranked.

All programs are making progress in assessing student learning outcomes, thanks to the leadership being provided by a faculty committee, and many programs are using new technology in various ways.

Technology in teaching and learning, like assessment, is a given on college campus these days. Dr. Buckley notes the Blackboard system is widely used by both faculty and students and is scheduled for a major upgrade this summer. Blackboard is a virtual learning environment software system designed to support both teaching and learning. Faculty make student assignments, conduct testing, return corrected projects, collect and organize grades, among a number of activities. Students, in turn, use the system for the same projects and testing, and to communicate back and forth with professors. The system creates a much stronger connection outside the classroom and enhances the traditional student/professor interaction.

New resources/facilities are found across campus, says Dr. Buckley. In the NYS College of Ceramics, all classrooms in the McMahon Building feature “smart” technology for interaction between professor and students. Renovation work on the labs, offices, and research areas for ceramic engineering on the second floor, north wing of McMahon will be completed this summer. Similar renovations are in the design phase for the third floor of the north wing. And this summer, new windows will be installed throughout the building.

At Harder Hall, architects and engineers are working on construction documents for a three-floor, approximately 17,000-square-foot addition on the east side. Plans call for ceramic studios to be housed on the first floor, expanded media (sound/video/interactive digital) on the second, and a gallery, approximately 4,000-square-foot space with mezzanine.

In addition, Scholes Library of Ceramics opened a new collaborative learning space in fall 2008 known as The Gibbs Research Commons. The new open area affords students more workspace, computers, and improved lighting.

In the Performing Arts Division, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, a new, 475-seat, approximately 30,000-square-foot, proscenium theater is being added to the east side of the Miller Performing Arts Center. The addition is part of a multi-million dollar gift from Marlin Miller ’54, and it is expected to be substantially complete during the winter of 2010 and is scheduled for occupancy in August 2010. The planning for an inaugural year of events is under way.

In the recent past, the former Allen Hall was remodeled into Perlman Hall (using a generous donation from Robert ’64 and Lynn Perlman), home to foreign language labs and classrooms and the International Student Programs offices. Meanwhile, students in the College of Business’s Olin Building are reaping valuable real-world experience by having a stock exchange board on the premises.

Dr. Buckley is enthused by a concerted effort in recent years encouraging students with similar academic interests, such as the environment, a language, or the Honors Program, to be housed together with the idea that an ongoing sharing of knowledge and experiences benefits the students and faculty. The most recent emphasis in shared-interest programming is on service learning. This academic year the Gary Horowitz Center for Service-Learning at Alfred University, a joint venture by the Division of Academic Affairs and the Division of Student Affairs, is located in Joel’s House. Ten students are living as a group having identified a service-learning project to conduct throughout the year.

Another aspect of change has been developing partnerships in order to offer programs off the main Alfred campus. A thriving “AU Downstate” program offering master’s degrees in counseling and literacy is ready to graduate its second class of 85-plus students.

“A partnership in Istanbul will enable us to welcome students pursuing undergraduate degrees in select programs such as business. And a strong partnership with Chinese universities has paved the way for the several programs, including the Confucius Institute, opening on the Alfred campus this fall,” says the Provost.

Opportunities for the future abound, said Dr. Buckley and there many possibilities encompassed in the three main themes of the Strategic Plan: Holistic Sustainability, Innovation and Partnerships.”

In all of its academic endeavors, “AU is true to its mission of providing academically challenging programs in a student-centered environment,” she says. “We really are achieving our mission. We are practicing what we say we do.”

Tags: Alfred University, Provost, Suzanne Buckley

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