Tripathi named to SUNY chancellor search committee

President Satish K. Tripathi has been named to the committee overseeing the international search for a new chancellor for the SUNY system.

Tripathi joins four other university presidents, SUNY trustees and representatives of the constituencies that SUNY serves in leading the search for a successor to Nancy L. Zimpher, who announced May 31 that she would step down as chancellor on June 30, 2017, after seven years in the position.

The search committee appointments were announced yesterday by H. Carl McCall, chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

McCall chairs the search committee, which held its first meeting on Monday. In addition to SUNY trustees, the search committee includes student and faculty representatives, SUNY campus presidents, leading philanthropist James H. Simons and several prominent SUNY alumni with ongoing connections to SUNY, among them SEFCU President and CEO Michael Castellana, NBC “Today Show” host Al Roker and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

“Building on Nancy Zimpher’s outstanding legacy of leadership, SUNY’s next chancellor will have a platform to continue to leverage the collective strengths of our campuses in order to lift up our students, faculty and staff, as well as all those served by SUNY in communities throughout New York State,” McCall said. “We are eager to find a candidate who embodies this vision for SUNY.

“Leading SUNY’s 64-campus enterprise is both a unique challenge and an extraordinary opportunity,” he added. “The composition of the search committee signals our intention to deepen SUNY’s commitment to New York State while expanding our global reach, influence and leadership.”

The committee will recommend a short list of finalists to the board of trustees, which will vote in public session to name the next chancellor.

Members of the search committee:

SUNY trustees

H. Carl McCall

Joseph W. Belluck, partner, Belluck & Fox LLP

Marc Cohen, student trustee and president, SUNY Student Assembly

Peter L.K. Knuepfer, president, University Faculty Senate and associate professor of geological sciences and environmental studies, Binghamton University

Eunice Lewin

Cary Staller, president of Staller Associates Inc.

Carl Spielvogel

Nina Tamrowski, president, Faculty Council of Community Colleges and professor of political science, Onondaga Community College

SUNY presidents

Michael Alfultis, SUNY Maritime College

Kristin G. Esterberg, SUNY Potsdam

Belinda S. Miles, Westchester Community College

Hunter R. Rawlings III, interim president, Cornell University

Satish Tripathi, UB

Constituency representatives

Michael Castellana, president and CEO, SEFCU, University at Albany ’84, ’92

John B. Fitzgibbons, board chair, SUNY Research Foundation and founder, chairman and CEO, Basin Holdings

William (Brit) Kirwan, chancellor emeritus, University System of Maryland

Jim Malatras, director of state operations, New York State, University at Albany ’99, ’00, ‘08

Cesar A. Perales, former secretary of state, New York Department of State

Al Roker, host and weatherman, NBC’s “Today Show,” SUNY Oswego ’76

James H. Simons, chairman, Simons Foundation

Randi Weingarten, president, American Federation of Teachers, Cornell ILR ’80

Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO, Partnership for New York City