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Nancy Zimpher Tackles a Big Challenge as SUNY’s New Chancellor

By  Paul Fain
February 11, 2009

The State University of New York finally has a leader, with the hiring on Tuesday of Nancy L. Zimpher as the system’s chancellor. While no stranger to challenges, Ms. Zimpher, president of the University of Cincinnati, is taking on one of the most difficult and important jobs in higher education.

When she arrives in Albany, in June, Ms. Zimpher will oversee 64 campuses, ranging from community colleges to research universities, with 440,000 students and a total annual budget of $10.7-billion. The university faces a severe financial crisis, and the state government has trimmed $210-million from the system’s budget in the current fiscal year.

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The State University of New York finally has a leader, with the hiring on Tuesday of Nancy L. Zimpher as the system’s chancellor. While no stranger to challenges, Ms. Zimpher, president of the University of Cincinnati, is taking on one of the most difficult and important jobs in higher education.

When she arrives in Albany, in June, Ms. Zimpher will oversee 64 campuses, ranging from community colleges to research universities, with 440,000 students and a total annual budget of $10.7-billion. The university faces a severe financial crisis, and the state government has trimmed $210-million from the system’s budget in the current fiscal year.

Furthermore, SUNY has long had a reputation as fractious and politicized, leading some observers to speculate that the system is ungovernable. Several of Ms. Zimpher’s predecessors have exited after short terms, and the post has been vacant since the departure of Vice Adm. John R. Ryan, in May 2007.

“These two-year chancellors have really been devastating,” said Carl P. Wiezalis, president of SUNY’s Faculty Senate, adding that the system needs a chancellor who can build relationships across the state and carry out a strategic plan.

Mr. Wiezalis and many others across the system, including campus presidents, trustees, and students, said they were thrilled by the selection of Ms. Zimpher. Carl T. Hayden, chairman of the system’s Board of Trustees, led the search committee. He said the committee was looking for a leader of national stature.

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“We wanted to find a ‘wow’ candidate,” he said, just before the board voted unanimously to approve Ms. Zimpher’s appointment.

First Woman in the Post

Lois B. DeFleur is one of the system’s longest-serving leaders, having been on the job for 19 years as president of SUNY’s Binghamton campus. She has been impressed, she said, by Ms. Zimpher from their work together at national organizations. Ms. Zimpher has served in leadership roles with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

“She’s a dynamic, enthusiastic person,” Ms. DeFleur said.

Ms. Zimpher, who is 62, became the University of Cincinnati’s president in 2003. The urban university enrolls 27,000 students and features a large medical center. She was Cincinnati’s first female president, and will be the first woman to run SUNY. System officials said she would earn an annual salary and benefits worth $545,400, and would also receive the use of university-owned housing and a car.

Ousting a Basketball Coach

New York had high hopes that Ms. Zimpher’s predecessor, Admiral Ryan, could move the unwieldy system past some of its seemingly intractable problems. With a reputation as a gutsy leader, Admiral Ryan secured an 11.3-percent increase in the state’s contribution in 2006, one of the system’s best budgets in decades (The Chronicle, June 16, 2006).

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Admiral Ryan left a void with his departure, in 2007, just a year and a half after his appointment to the permanent position. And SUNY’s situation hardly got easier after he left. The epic self-destruction of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat who had advocated building a $4-billion endowment for the state’s public universities, created even more chaos in Albany. Many sources say SUNY has been hurt by not having a strong leader as the state sets its priorities.

Ms. Zimpher’s supporters say she is up to the task. Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the California State University system, a university of similar scope that also faces huge challenges, said in a written statement that Ms. Zimpher is one of the “bright stars in higher-education leadership” as well as a strong leader, “which is needed in these tough economic times.”

An episode often cited by those who praise Ms. Zimpher was her 2005 ouster of Bob Huggins, the University of Cincinnati’s men’s basketball coach. Mr. Huggins was wildly popular because of his teams’ success. But a string of player arrests, including that of one athlete who had punched a police horse, as well as Mr. Huggins’s own arrest on a charge of drunken driving, led to his being forced out by Ms. Zimpher. She was fiercely criticized by alumni and sports fans, but did not back down.

That determination will help her in Albany, and it’s a safe bet that she will be put to the test quickly.

“She’s exactly what we need,” Mr. Wiezalis said. “She’s not intimidated by the politics of New York.”

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We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
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