The University at Buffalo's No. 2 official, Provost Elizabeth D.Capaldi, is one of three finalists to become the new head of theUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Capaldi, 56, widely viewed on campus as heir apparent to UBPresident William R. Greiner, will learn in April if she has beenselected as the new chancellor of the flagship UMass campus.
'It's a good opportunity, so I thought I would explore it,' shesaid Friday. 'I think it's an excellent institution that has a verybright future.'
Her interest in the UMass position came as a surprise to many atUB, though from the start Capaldi has been seen as a talented,decisive and ambitious administrator.
She is the highest-ranking woman in UB history, and during hertenure has emphasized bringing in more research money and creating ahigh-tech center of excellence in Buffalo.
UB officials and faculty say she has brought strong leadershipand an outsider's fresh perspective to the university since arrivingin July 2000. She'd be missed if she left Amherst, N.Y., forAmherst, Mass., they said.
Greiner said he supports Capaldi in exploring her options, and hesaid other universities were bound to be interested in such atalented administrator.
'This is one of the risks you take when you bring in someone likeher,' Greiner said. Capaldi came to UB from the University ofFlorida, where she also served as provost.
UMass officials announced the final three chancellor candidatesThursday.
The finalists, culled from a list of 100, are: Capaldi; WilliamE. Hogan II, a member of the University of Minnesota Board ofRegents and the head of a Minneapolis venture capital company; andJohn V. Lombardi, former president of the University of Florida andCapaldi's former boss.
Lombardi and Capaldi both came under fire at the Gainesville,Fla., campus when it was learned they had padded the budget of aresearch center in hopes of creating well-paid positions forthemselves.
Capaldi earns $235,000 as UB provost, according to StateUniversity of New York records.
Capaldi said that she was contacted by those running the UMasssearch, and that she hasn't been out looking for a new position.
People in academic administration tend to be mobile, and Capaldimay have decided she doesn't want to wait to see what happenswhenever Greiner retires as UB president, said Lewis Mandell, a UBmanagement professor.
Capaldi said she'll visit the 25,000-student campus in Amherst,Mass., for the first time in the next month.
The University of Massachusetts board of trustees will decide ona new chancellor by the end of April.
The Massachusetts university system is facing the same budgetproblems as the SUNY system. In an effort to deal with a $15 millionbudget gap, UMass this year laid off 95 employees and announcedplans to drop seven of its 29 varsity sports teams, the Chronicle ofHigher Education reported.
'Having come from the federal government, where the word'decision' is an unknown word, I was enormously impressed with herability to make decisions to move an agenda,' said Jaylan S.Turkkan, UB's vice president for research. Capaldi recruited Turkkanto UB from a top post at the National Institutes of Health.
Even Mandell, whom Capaldi removed as School of Management dean,conceded that she has 'shaken up' some parts of the university thatneeded shaking.
'(But) in terms of the overall effect, I think it's fair to saythere were some costs. Some eggs were broken,' he said.
UB officials say the work Capaldi is leading on new commercialapplications for university research and enhancing UB's ties to thebusiness community will continue even if she leaves.
The $200 million Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics, inparticular, will move ahead, said Randall L. Clark, a member of theUB Council and chairman of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise.
'The university has tremendous depth in bioinformatics,' saidClark, chairman of the board of Dunn Tire.
e-mail: swatson@buffnews.com
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