Former Vice Chancellor Deborah Freund officially announced her departure from Syracuse University on May 19, 2006, and remained at her position on campus until June 30.

Since Freund was the University of California, Los Angeles’ leading candidate to become its new chancellor, it was widely assumed she was resigning from SU so that she could accept a new position at UCLA.

In a May 19 press release from SU News Services, Freund is even quoted as stating, ‘I believe the time is right for me to take on a leadership position at a major university.’

However, in the same month that she announced her resignation from SU, Freund declared she was dropping out of the chancellor race at UCLA as well.

Kevin Morrow, university spokesman and executive director of SU News Services, said he does not know Freund’s plans for the fall.

‘I spoke with Debbie recently,’ said Morrow. ‘She is working on a sabbatical for this coming academic year and will know where in the next few weeks.’

Since July 1, Eric Spina, former dean of the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, has quietly been serving as the university’s interim vice chancellor until a permanent replacement is found.

However, Spina said he had been in the chancellor’s office since mid May – alongside Freund – in order to understand his new position and responsibility.

Chancellor Nancy Cantor personally asked Spina about the time of last May’s commencement if he would be interested in serving as the university’s interim vice chancellor, Spina said. He never mentioned to Cantor any interest in the position, but said he believes his work as dean’s representative on the chancellor’s cabinet for the past two years may have influenced her decision.

Bruce Carter, chairman of the senate agenda committee, said it is the responsibility of his committee to assemble a search committee that will look for SU’s next vice chancellor.

Once Cantor presents her charge to the senate agenda committee, it can begin creating a search committee to meet that charge.

‘The (search) committee has to be broad and deep across the university,’ said Carter. ‘We don’t want it to be so big that it could never meet. It needs to be diverse in terms of perspectives, ethnicity, gender and college. We want to make sure schools and colleges are represented in some level.’

Once the search committee is assembled, the senate agenda committee will present it in front of the university senate for a vote. If passed, the search committee can then begin searching for SU’s next vice chancellor.

There is no deadline for when the search committee must have its vice chancellor selection finalized, Carter said. He said it would be a ‘reasonable goal’ for the search committee to find a replacement by the end of the academic year.

As for Spina, he said both he and Cantor expect him to serve as interim vice chancellor for about a year.

‘I absolutely expect (the search committee) to get someone in on a regular basis by then,’ said Spina.

Published on August 28, 2006 at 12:00 pm