Syracuse University Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw passed the mantle of power, in the form of his floppy, orange hat, to the first woman to take the reins at SU.

University officials announced Friday that Nancy Cantor, currently chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will take over for Shaw as chancellor of SU. Cantor will be SU’s 11th chancellor and will be the first woman to hold the post.

‘It is really, truly a momentous day,’ said Joe Lampe, chairman of the Board of Trustees and head of the Chancellor’s Search Committee.

Cantor appeared at a press conference Friday afternoon with her husband Steven Brechin, an environmental sociologist, by her side.

Cantor served as UIUC’s chancellor since 2001 and holds her bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford University. In addition to the chancellorship, Cantor has been named a distinguished professor of psychology and women’s studies.

‘I can only say how delighted I am that Dr. Cantor and Steve Brechin have decided to come to the dance,’ Shaw said.

The search committee began pursuing Cantor as a candidate after receiving an outside recommendation, Lampe said.

Following preliminary interviews, the committee unanimously decided to only call back one candidate, Cantor.

Cantor did her homework during the interview process, a fact that impressed the committee.

‘She could answer every single question,’ Lampe said. ‘She read every piece of material we gave her.’

The nearly eight-month search process culminated in a Board of Trustees meeting at 9:45 a.m. Friday in New York City, in which 32 board members unanimously approved Cantor’s selection.

The meeting was a rushed affair, with trustees flying in from all over the country to meet, Lampe said.

‘We wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, as all the agreements were made,’ Lampe said.

The anxiousness behind the whole process was necessary to get the announcement of Cantor’s appointment out as soon as possible to avoid a leak, Lampe said.

After meeting, Lampe and members of the board flew up to Syracuse to meet Cantor, who was in Syracuse telling her staff back in Illinois of her decision.

‘The weather held,’ Lampe said. ‘The plane ride was a little bumpy, but we made it.’

Cantor lauded SU’s student-centered research philosophy and said that the university has the right mixture of students, faculty and staff to make a difference.

‘My sense about Syracuse is it’s not stodgy, it’s not full of itself,’ she said. ‘It’s the right size and scale to make a big difference.’

Cantor plans to leave her post at UIUC by July 1 and will take office at SU when Shaw retires in August. Although he could not disclose the details of her contract, Lampe said Cantor’s compensation is in line with Shaw’s current contract and those at other comparable universities and colleges.

 

Published on February 8, 2004 at 12:00 pm