Going from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a Friday sounds like a day in hell for the student majority of Syracuse University. For Chancellor Nancy Cantor it’s part of the job. Cantor showed her softer side, her sense of humor and the more familiar enthusiastic support for her mission to reform SU. It’s all part of…

A day in the life of Chancellor Nancy Cantor: Friday March 23, 2007

6:30 a.m.

Cantor wakes and begins planning for the day, after arriving in Syracuse at midnight from a conference in Washington, D.C.

9:20 a.m.

Quote of the minute:

‘Tell your family and friends and closest thousand people, but don’t ever say you said it.’

Cantor

Cantor meets with Bill Coplin, chairman of the public affairs program, and junior Marc Peters in her office at 600 Crouse-Hinds Hall to congratulate Peters on becoming a Truman Scholar. Because the award wasn’t publicly announced until Tuesday, the junior had to be careful about letting the word out.

9:29 a.m.

Quote of the minute:

‘Being completely frank here, I thought we had this all solved – and we don’t.’

Cantor on including first-year athletes in orientation

The chancellor meets with the University Senate committee on athletic policy in the conference room above her office. The group addressed integrating student-athletes with other students and suggested encouraging athletes to live in Main Campus dorms.

One of the most difficult challenges, the committee reported, is scheduling first-year orientation so fall sport athletes don’t miss events for practices and games. Cantor seemed upset by the lack of progress made on this front. She later asked Barry Wells, senior vice president and dean of Student Affairs, to help resolve the issue.

10:14 a.m.

Quote of the minute:

‘The question is: am I going to have time to scribble my scribbles on them?’

Cantor

Peter Englot, director of Strategic Initiatives, arrives at the chancellor’s office to review the presentation he created for her speech at the South Side Innovation Center. As Englot goes through the slides outlining the Connective Corridor, Cantor watches calm, relaxed and comfortable with what she will say. After three years, her message for the future of the university and the catchphrases ‘scholarship in action’ and ‘communities of experts,’ are standard in her agenda and speeches.

‘I don’t think I’m going to talk from notes, I think I’m just going to get up and talk from the slides,’ she said.

10:40 a.m.

Quote of the minute:

‘Well, they can’t feel ignored.’

Cantor of incoming students

Cantor visits the fourth floor of Crouse-Hinds to hear a report from the Office of Student Affairs about organizing the mail for the fall’s incoming class. In the middle of the table, a black binder held the 90 letters – averaging one a day – incoming freshmen received last summer. A new program will limit that number to four.

Cantor suggested involving students more in the process.

‘Engaging the world, Chancellor, we got it,’ said Barry Wells, senior vice president and dean of Student Affairs, jokingly and sarcastically. ‘Your colleagues have got it.’

12:15 p.m.

After a salad for lunch in her office, Cantor walks to the Schine Student Center for the National Orange Day celebration. Though the chancellor attended the event, she didn’t speak.

12:55 p.m.

Cantor waves to construction workers at Newhouse III on the walk back to her office. She signs a few letters and takes advantage of the down time to prepare for her presentation. This kind of prep time is unusual, Cantor said.

1:40 p.m.

Kevin Quinn, vice president for Public Affairs, drives Cantor in his black SUV to the South Side Innovation Center. Quinn’s personal car has a baby seat in the back and a Boston Red Sox frame for the license plate.

The five-minute ride was noticeably quiet, as Quinn and Cantor took in the weather on one of the first warm days of the year.

2:17 p.m.

Quote of the minute:

‘I do wonder, can you be any more enthusiastic … Just wonder if everyone could be that enthusiastic?’

Marilyn Higgins, vice president of economic development at National Grid, on Cantor

The chancellor gives her presentation outlining her plans for the Connective Corridor at National Grid’s Upstate Conversations II conference.

Cantor outlined where SU has influence downtown to explain the need for the corridor.

‘We’re not investing unless we find enough partners that keep us honest and keep us going,’ Cantor said, asking others to participate in the project.

4:09 p.m.

Quote of the minute:

‘You know what’s funny, we had a chancellor sighting.’

James Duah-Agyeman, director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs

After stopping briefly at her office to check voicemail and e-mail, Cantor leaves for the Native Student and InterGroup Dialogue Open House at 113 Euclid Ave.

Riding past the blasting music from fraternities on Comstock Avenue, Cantor said: ‘I guess it’s spring and it’s Friday night.’

She takes a tour of the building, which will serve as a meeting place for those in the InterGroup Dialogue program.

4:54 p.m.

Quinn drops Cantor off at her house as the family’s golden retriever, Ruby, comes out and barks at the end of the driveway, greeting the chancellor. They’ll be going out to dinner with friends later.

 

Published on March 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm