Zimpher takes SUNY job

Nancy Zimpher says only a “world-class opportunity” like running the State University of New York system could have lured her from the University of Cincinnati.

The UC president will stay on campus into May before starting her new job as SUNY chancellor June 1, she told the Enquirer this morning.

SUNY is a sprawling system of 64 campuses with more than 427,000 students. It is the largest university system in the nation under a single governing board.

“I don’t think it was a calendar thing as much as an immense opportunity to take many of the innovations we have honed here at the University of Cincinnati to a national and a world stage,” Zimpher said from Albany, where the SUNY board is scheduled to make the appointment official this afternoon.

“Only the size and scale of the opportunity at the SUNY system would have attracted me.”

Zimpher, 62, who has been at UC since October 2003, said she has fielded dozens of job inquiries in those five years, including the presidency of Ohio State University several years ago.

SUNY called in December and talks quickly progressed. She met last week with New York Gov. David Paterson in Albany and returned there Monday for today’s trustee vote and board announcement.

As head of a system with a $10 billion budget, she would be paid $545,400 and have use of SUNY-owned apartments in Albany and Manhattan as well as a driver and car.

In her five years at UC, Zimpher has earned legions of followers locally and nationally by raising UC’s academic profile. Under her leadership, UC has raised admissions standards, tightened spending to stem a budget crisis, launched a $1 billion capital campaign, led the Strive regional education consortium and recently unveiled a restructuring of hundreds of UC academic programs.

To her last day at UC, Zimpher remains a polarizing figure in Cincinnati, known as much for the brouhaha with former men's basketball coach Bob Huggins as any of the advances the university has made. She has hired a new athletic director, basketball coach and football coach. While the basketball team has struggled to recover from the impact of Huggins’ departure, the football team has enjoyed spectacular success and the academic performance of UC athletes is among the best in the Big East Conference.

She also has held the consistent support of UC trustees – including Enquirer president and publisher Margaret Buchanan – who have insisted she take raises. She made about $510,000 last year in salary and bonus. And she has volunteered as the chief public face of the region’s largest university and largest employer.

“There’s a buzz factor now about UC,” Zimpher told The Enquirer’s editorial board last month when discussing the capital campaign. “Part of it is that we’re telling our story.”

But her critics disagree. Chuck Kubicki, a Clermont County developer who was among many upset when Huggins was forced out, said Zimpher has changed UC, and not for the better.

“It’s just not for the average Joe anymore,” Kubicki said. “The poor kids that really need the education, they’re not going to be catered to. I’m just not thrilled with what UC is doing.”

By Cliff Peale • cpeale@enquirer.com • February 10, 2009