Rutgers University appoints SU’s Nancy Cantor as chancellor of Newark campus, starting in January

SYRACUSE — Syracuse University (SU) Chancellor Nancy Cantor will become the next chancellor of Rutgers University’s Newark campus on Jan. 1, 2014, a few months ahead of her planned departure from SU.

 

Rutgers president Robert Barchi today announced Cantor’s appointment during a meeting of the Rutgers University board of governors, the school said in a news release.

 

Cantor has been chancellor and president of SU since 2004. She announced last October that she would leave the university when her contract ended in June 2014.

 

“I am excited to welcome Nancy to Rutgers as our Newark chancellor. She is an outstanding scholar recognized internationally for her work in understanding individual perceptions and behaviors in social environments. Over her career, Nancy has also held leadership positions at some of our nation’s best schools,” Barchi said in the Rutgers release.

 

In addition to Syracuse, Cantor has also held academic and administrative positions at Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Illinois, according to the release.

 

Under Cantor’s leadership, Syracuse University launched Scholarship in Action, a vision that challenges higher-education institutions to engage all corners of their communities, in areas such as environmental sustainability, neighborhood and cultural entrepreneurship, and urban-school reform.

 

“As a social psychologist, I am devoted to the action research tradition where scholarly excellence and social impact go hand in hand,” Cantor said in the Rutgers release. “As an educational leader, I have devoted my advocacy to making more real the promise of higher education as the road to social mobility, a context for democratic practice and a participant in community building and public problem-solving.”

 

Cantor’s time at Syracuse also included completion of a $1 billion fundraising campaign.

 

Cantor is among the nation’s “outstanding academic leaders” and will be “a deeply thoughtful, energetic and committed partner” for the board of directors at Rutgers–Newark, Richard Thompson, chairman of the SU board of trustees, said in a Syracuse University news release.

 

“Nancy has been a superlative leader, seeing our university to wonderful success and helping us to build on our distinctive greatness and achieve new heights,” Thompson said.

 

Thompson also noted Cantor’s role in the $1 billion capital campaign, a “record level” of applications from a pool students “that is more diverse than ever,” attracting hundreds of new faculty, the creation of new academic facilities, and in engaging the community in “unprecedented” ways.

 

He believes Cantor has positioned SU to attract a “new leader of the highest caliber.”

 

SU said that its chancellor search committee continues its work and remains on schedule to find a replacement for Cantor, with details available at syr.edu/chancellorsearch.

 

 

 

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com