Nancy Cantor, chancellor of the UI’s Urbana campus since 2001, has been named the 11th chancellor and president of Syracuse University.
She succeeds Kenneth A. “Buzz” Shaw, who will retire Aug. 1 after having served as Syracuse’s chancellor and president for 13 years.
“I am confident that we chose the ideal person to carry forward the vision of Chancellor Shaw and the board of trustees and take [Syracuse] to the next level,” said Joseph O. Lampe, chair of the chancellor’s search committee and of the board of trustees.
“While I am disappointed to see her leave so soon and with so much promise left on her agenda, we all recognize that this is a tremendous opportunity for Nancy as she rises to the next plateau in her profession,” said President James J. Stukel in a letter to colleagues.
Of her nearly three years at Illinois, Cantor said, “It’s been a fabulous time.”
During her chancellorship, Cantor has enacted 11 cross-campus, interdisciplinary initiatives with interests that encompass a wide range, from the behavior of the cell to the effects of globalization, from creating art forms to devising a system of food security.
The chancellor’s legacy at the Urbana campus also includes the implementation of several programs affecting the health and welfare of faculty, staff and their families, such as contraceptive coverage for women, the Success by Six program and drop-in care and sick care for children. Cantor also was one of the driving forces behind the university’s decision to start a health coverage reimbursement program for same-sex domestic partners.
Several projects that Cantor pursued tirelessly are just getting under way, such as construction of the Institute for Genomic Biology, the relocation of the South Farms and the renovations to Lincoln Hall.
“Even though it’s only been three years, I’m being flooded with messages and calls from people saying how much we’ve accomplished,” Cantor said. “We’ve been able to bring to the floor a number of possibilities at Illinois and to raise issues for the campus to address, such as the nature of multiracial democracy and the roles of the humanities and the arts.”
A distinguished scholar in social and personality psychology, Cantor is widely recognized for her contributions to the understanding of how individuals regulate their behavior to adapt to life’s many challenging social environments. She is a co-author or a co-editor of three books, and the author or a co-author of some 90 book chapters and journal articles.
Cantor received her bachelor’s degree in 1974 at Sarah Lawrence College and earned her doctorate in psychology at Stanford in 1978.
Before coming to Illinois, Cantor was dean of the graduate school and then provost and executive vice president at the University of Michigan.
“Syracuse is giving me a wonderful opportunity to lead a great university,” she said. “As a native New Yorker, I think Syracuse and I will be a good fit. Still, it was very difficult to make the decision to leave Illinois.”
In addition to her administrative appointment, Cantor has been named Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her husband, Steven Brechin, an environmental sociologist, has been named professor of sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Search begins for new president, chancellor
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor
217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu
During a special meeting on Feb. 19 at UIC, the UI Board of Trustees will meet with faculty and staff members and students to gather input from the campus community as the university begins the process of finding successors to President James J. Stukel and Urbana Chancellor Nancy Cantor, who recently announced their resignations.
At the meeting, the trustees will review the guidelines governing search procedures for major administrative positions, which were developed by a special board-appointed committee in 1991 and were reaffirmed by the board during 2001 as it sought to fill the chancellorships at Urbana and Chicago. If time allows, the board also may authorize use of a recruiting firm, decide on the composition of a consultative committee to spearhead the search and related matters, said board chairman Lawrence Eppley.
In all likelihood, the search for a new president will take precedence and will continue throughout the summer, necessitating that Stukel appoint an interim chancellor to take over when Cantor departs in July. During the next few weeks, Stukel will be meeting with the Senate Executive Committee, the chancellor’s administrative cabinet and the college deans.
University officials and consultative committees conducting past searches for high-ranking positions have kept the names of candidates confidential, a policy that has elicited criticism from some constituents who believe candidates competing for these positions should be identified and the interview process made public as is required by law in some other states.
However, university officials say that confidentiality is critical because high-profile candidates are often concerned that publicity might adversely affect their careers, particularly if they are not successful in attaining a position for which they have competed.
“We’re admonished in all of the literature that we read that the people you really want can’t be disclosed,” Eppley said.
Law professor Thomas Ulen, who chaired the 13-member search committee that sought a successor to Chancellor Michael Aiken in 2001, agreed, saying that confidentiality attracts a broader range of candidates, some of whom might not participate if their names were disclosed.
Accordingly, having a consultative committee whose membership is broadly representative of the campus community coordinate the search helps ensure that a wide range of candidates are considered, Ulen said.
In 2000-2001, the committee, whose members comprised two college deans, students, faculty and staff members, reviewed about 100 candidates before recommending Cantor and several other finalists to Stukel.
