SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The current academic year at Syracuse University will be the last for Chancellor Kent Syverud. He plans to step down as chancellor and president in June 2026, after more than 12 years in the job. Saying the decision comes “after much reflection,” Syverud, who turns age 69 in October, announced his decision […]
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The current academic year at Syracuse University will be the last for Chancellor Kent Syverud.
He plans to step down as chancellor and president in June 2026, after more than 12 years in the job.
Saying the decision comes “after much reflection,” Syverud, who turns age 69 in October, announced his decision to students, faculty, staff, alumni, families, and friends in a letter posted Tuesday, Aug. 26, on the school’s news website.
The Syracuse University board of trustees in December 2022 had announced it had extended the Syverud’s contract to 2026. His departure coincides with the expiration of that contract.
Syverud, who grew up in Irondequoit, wrote, “Serving this University has been the greatest privilege of my career.” He has been Syracuse chancellor since January 2014, when he formally took office, succeeding Nancy Cantor.
In the letter, he noted the project work on the Syracuse campus during his time as chancellor. That included the National Veterans Resource Center, the Barnes Center at The Arch, along with the renovated JMA Wireless Dome and renovated Schine Student Center. “You have transformed our campus into a more dynamic and vibrant living and learning environment,” he said to the university community.
As the letter continued, Syverud said, “Applications and enrollment have reached record levels. And together, we have confronted one of the most disruptive decades in the history of higher education, including navigating a once-in-a-century global pandemic that required more of our people than ever before. I marvel at the extraordinary talent of our Orange community. And you’ve done all this while putting the University in strong financial shape, with truly balanced budgets and record fundraising.”
He also thanked the Syracuse University board of trustees for the faith it placed in him in selecting Syverud as the school’s 12th chancellor and president in September 2013.
Syverud ended the letter, saying, “Although our time in leadership will end next June, [my wife] Ruth [Chen] and I will always be part of this extraordinary Orange community. We will remain Forever Orange.”
