Chancellor’s Office makes series of academic and administrative announcements

Chancellor’s Office makes series of academic and administrative announcementsSeptember 06, 2006SU News ServicesSUnews@syr.edu

Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor has made several key academic and administrative announcements as the University begins the fall semester.

First, an internal search will begin shortly for a permanent Syracuse University vice chancellor and provost, with the search to be completed by the end of the semester.

Chancellor Cantor and Bruce Carter, chair of the University Senate Agenda Committee, agreed on a course of action whereby the Agenda Committee will organize the internal search.

Under the University Senate bylaws, the Senate Agenda Committee will be expanded to include the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Academic Affairs. That committee will consult with the Chancellor and designate a slate of potential members of a search committee. The Committee will then present a list of committee members to the Senate for its ratification. Upon ratification, the list will be submitted to the Chancellor, with the request that the individuals named be appointed as the Vice Chancellor Search Committee.

An internal search will be conducted to ensure continued stability and momentum in leadership as a wide range of significant University-wide initiatives are underway involving continued collaboration from the University’s schools and colleges, and administrative and support units.

The search committee’s membership will be announced within the coming weeks.

Provost Spina, Marcoccia to forge new partnership in Budget & Planning, Contract Accounting, Design & Construction Areas

Under a new collaborative partnership, the University provost will join with the executive vice president and chief financial officer to jointly oversee three departments: Budget and Planning, Contract (Research) Accounting, and Design and Construction. The Office of Design and Construction will now be known as the Office of Campus Planning, Design and Construction. Louis G. Marcoccia, longtime senior vice president for business, financial and administrative services (BFAS), has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer.

“Collaboration has been a key part of our successful efforts to build the creative campus,” says Cantor. “‘Scholarship in Action’ requires collaboration across every segment of the University, and this new model of leadership cooperation in these three critical areas will significantly enhance our overall academic mission.”

The new partnership is intended to signal the primacy of the academic mission of the University and the essential role that administrative support units play in enabling the success of the academic units and the University as a whole. The chief objective of the new partnershipis to ensure that operational support enhances the academic mission.

“This new collaboration will allow the University to more dynamically and efficiently advance the academic mission of ‘Scholarship in Action,'” Spina says. “I look forward to working in partnership with Lou Marcoccia and colleagues from across the University to understand the challenges before us and to implement this new plan in a way that will enable us to increase the impact of our efforts and thus enhance our overall quality.”

“The decision by the Chancellor and trustees to change my title to executive vice president and chief financial officer in recognition of my leadership role and responsibilities is very much appreciated. I am totally committed to doing all I can to lead my areas of responsibility to achieve best practices in support of the University’s mission, vision and goals,” Marcoccia says. “I am very pleased by and fully supportive of the opportunity to develop and refine, in partnership with Eric, the collaborative leadership model that will no doubt lead to best practices in support of the centrality of the academic mission inherent in the University’s vision of Scholarship In Action.”

The Office of Budget and Planning will be charged with supporting planning and revenue forecasting in each responsibility center at a level of detail that was not previously necessary. Models will be developed that faithfully represent the complex, interdependent academic environment and the rapidly changing sponsored program landscape so that informed decisions can be made about enrollment targets, appropriate taxation levels and expenditure authority for each center. The collaborative interaction between Academic Affairs and BFAS will aim to better inform the Office of Budget and Planning on academic issues, which will in turn enhance the ability of academic units to develop fiscal plans that will enable them to achieve successes that are integral to the SU vision.

An expected outcome of the University’s emphasis on “faculty excellence and scholarly distinction” is an increase in externally sponsored programs, including research, education and engagement activities. The changes are intended to make the infrastructure required to support sponsored activity–represented through both grants administration and contract accounting–highly efficient, principal investigator-friendly, consistent with appropriate accounting procedures and government regulations, and seamlessly integrated.

Academic Affairs has historically possessed its own space-planning function, separate from the University’s central Office of Design and Construction (ODC). The realignment will result in a more collaborative leadership model between Academic Affairs and BFAS. BFAS brings a broad portfolio of related expertise and activities to space planning, design, construction, renovation and funding, while Academic Affairs represents the mission and ultimate use of most of the University’s facilities. ODC will henceforth also include the academic space planning and management function, and the assistant provost for academic space planning will be integrated into the new Office of Campus Planning, Design and Construction in an assistant director’s position. It is intended that ODC be guided by the primacy of the academic mission and the success of students and faculty, and that close collaboration between BFAS and Academic Affairs will provide valuable information to academic units throughout the space upgrade process.

Newton named to Chancellor’s Cabinet

Cathryn R. Newton, dean of The College of Arts and Sciences, has been named a member of the Chancellor’s Cabinet. The Chancellor’s Cabinet is composed of senior-level administrators, each a head of a major division of the University. Chaired by Chancellor Cantor, the Cabinet is involved in budget and policy decisions. Newton will serve as new deans’ representative and replaces Interim Provost Spina, who previously served as the deans’ representative.

Newton has served as dean of The College since 2001. Newton joined the University as an assistant professor of geology in 1983, was promoted to associate professor in 1989, and was named the Jessie Heroy Page Professor of Earth Sciences and chair of the earth sciences department in 1993. Known for her research in paleobiology and paleoecology, including her work on ancient biogeography, she has published widely in leading scientific publications and has won numerous grants from the National Science Foundation and other funding organizations.

As dean, Newton has helped establish Arts and Sciences as a premier college for the study of both the physical and natural sciences and the collaborative humanities. Currently, she is overseeing the development of the Life Sciences Complex, a new facility that will for the first time in SU history house biology, chemistry and biochemistry under one roof, and the renovation of the historic Tolley Building, which will house SU’s new humanities center and the new site of Imagining America, a national consortium dedicated to strengthening the public role of the arts, humanities, and design. Newton is also a chief architect of the Central New York Humanities Corridor, a Mellon-sponsored partnership with Cornell University and the University of Rochester, and major initiatives in the humanities with the Ford Foundation. In addition, she has broadened the academic offerings within The College to bolster core humanities units, such as English, religion, philosophy, and women’s studies.