The chairman of the State University of New York’s board of trustees is recommending that John Ryan, interim chancellor of the system since 1996, be made permanent. Chairman Thomas Egan said members of the chancellor search committee felt that while “we had assembled a pool of first-rate candidates, Ryan was above all the most qualified individual to lead us,’’ according to a memo dated April 8.
“His academic record . . . is unparalleled,’’ said Egan’s memo, reviewed by the Associated Press on April 9. The SUNY Board of Trustees Search Committee was scheduled to meet again on Monday, April 14, and possibly send a recommendation forward to the Board of Trustees, which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, April 22 (although a rescheduling may occur due to a conflict with the Passover holiday).
Ryan has agreed to be considered as a permanent replacement to Thomas Bartlett, who quit in 1996 after disputes with the trustees, according to Egan. At the time he was hired by SUNY, Ryan said he expected to help the trustees find a new chancellor.
By selecting the 67-year-old Ryan, SUNY trustees would avoid the lengthy selection and transition processes associated with selecting a new chancellor, Egan said.
Egan wrote that he had spoken with some members of the search committee and would be telephoning the others in the next few days before its April 14 meeting. The 25-member Search Committee is comprised of some trustees, campus presidents — including Albany President Hitchcok — student representatives, a union president and other college administrators.
“As both a University Center President and member of the Search Committee charged with finding a permanent Chancellor for the State University, I have had the privilege of working closely for the past year with Interim Chancellor Jack Ryan.” said Hitchcock. “He is a most able administrator, an excellent leader, and a wise advisor.
“While the Search Committee has reviewed the credentials of many outstanding candidates, I am delighted that Chancellor Ryan has agreed to become a candidate for the position on a permanent basis, and I look forward to discussing his candidacy at the April 14 meeting of the committee.”
The board of trustees must approve the search committee’s recommendation for chancellor. Egan, committee chairman, and a majority of the 16-member board of trustees were appointed by Gov. George Pataki. The memo said that between three and five other candidates had been identified by the search committee as qualified to lead the 64-campus SUNY system.
Ryan left Indiana University after 16 years as president in 1987, and before coming to SUNY he served as interim president of two campuses looking for a permanent leader: the University of Maryland at Baltimore and Florida Atlantic University.
Ryan was picked by university trustees after the lead candidate, former Bush administration official Alvin Bernstein, dropped out following disclosures that he was criticized by the Pentagon for his spending at a military school in Germany. The presidents of the university centers recommended Ryan.
At the time, he said he knew little about SUNY except that the four university centers in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Stony Brook had good reputations. He called the system “a slumbering giant.’’
According to AP, Ryan came under fire from SUNY advocates earlier this year after he told a joint legislative hearing that Pataki’s proposed $400 tuition increase was “affordable.’’ John Mather of Preservation SUNY, a group of former university presidents and administrators, said he was surprised that Ryan was being considered for the permanent position.
“I would see him as an unlikely candidate because of the fact he has become a mere extension of the arm of the de-facto chancellor Thomas Egan,’’ Mather said. “He serves as a nice shield.’’
But, after 10 months without a Ryan, according to the Associated Press, “has proved adept at steering a course between the warring Pataki and Cuomo trustees.”
Egan, while acknowledging that the search committee had found several other individuals who could lead the university effectively, Egan said in the memo that by asking Ryan to serve as chancellor, “for an open-ended term at the pleasure of the board, we are able immediately to move ahead on a number of issues important to the university.”