Syracuse University renews contract of Chancellor Syverud

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse University’s board of trustees announced it has renewed and extended the contract of Chancellor Kent Syverud until 2024.

The contract extension follows an “extensive and inclusive” review process involving deans, faculty, students, staff, alumni, trustees and administrators, Syracuse said in a news release. The University Senate also conducted its own review, which included a survey of university senators and affiliates.

“Dozens” of university stakeholders provided feedback to the board and, separately, to the University Senate about the university’s performance under Syverud’s leadership over the last four years. That process continued between March and October of last year.

In addition to the review reports, the board considered its interactions with the chancellor; the school’s achievements under Syverud’s leadership over the last four years; his capabilities, his character and Syracuse’s “defined institutional priorities.”

First four years

Syracuse University appointed Syverud as its 12th chancellor after his predecessor, Nancy Cantor, departed in 2013 for a similar role at Rutgers University’s Newark campus.

The school made plenty of headlines during Syverud’s first four years in the top leadership role.

He guided the school through the NCAA’s March 2015 announcement of sanctions against the men’s basketball program that included a five-year probation, scholarship losses, financial penalties, and a suspension of head coach Jim Boeheim for nine ACC games. An NCAA appeals committee later upheld that suspension but said it could begin before the start of ACC competition.

Syracuse University in May 2016 announced plans to replace the “aging” Carrier Dome roof with a new fixed roof. It’s part of an estimated $255 million campus-improvement project that Syracuse is calling the “west campus project.” The university’s board of trustees had “advanced” the project as part of what Syracuse is dubbing the “campus framework.” Two years later, the university also announced that a new fixed roof and the installation of air conditioning would be part of the upcoming $118 million renovation project at the Carrier Dome.

Syracuse also formally opened the College of Law’s Dineen Hall in September 2014 and has started construction on the upcoming National Veterans Resource Center.

Syverud’s tenure has also included two changes in the leadership of Syracuse athletics. Not long after the NCAA announced the sanctions, Daryl Gross stepped down as director of athletics. In June of that same year, Syracuse introduced Mark Coyle as Gross’s successor in that role. After Coyle abruptly departed the position nearly a year later for a similar job at the University of Minnesota, Syracuse introduced alumnus and former ESPN executive John Wildhack as the school’s new athletics director in July 2016.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com