Role Model

Zimpher's Future Includes UAlbany Positions as Professor and Advisor

Outgoing SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, seen meeting UAlbany students on campus in December of 2014, will have faculty and advisor roles at the University after she steps down from her current role in September. (Photo by Mark Schmidt)

ALBANY, N.Y. (July 17, 2017) — State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, who is stepping down from her position at the end of August, will be assuming a faculty position as professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy & Leadership.

She will also become a senior fellow at SUNY’s Rockefeller Institute of Government (RIG), where she will create and direct a new think tank, the Center for Education Pipeline Systems Change. And she will serve as UAlbany’s incoming President Havidán Rodríguez’s chief advisor for cradle-to-career partnerships.

“The University at Albany’s commitment to community outreach and engagement is one of its major strengths, and a very important characteristic that attracted me to pursuing the role of president,” Rodríguez said. “Chancellor Zimpher’s leadership of SUNY has lifted the University at Albany’s partnerships within the local community to unprecedented heights, all to benefit not only our students but those in schools throughout the City of Albany and the Capital District. I look forward to continuing this important work together.”

Zimpher is joining a department, Educational Policy & Leadership, known for its cradle-to-career approach to preparing educational leaders, and at a time when it is launching a new M.S. in Higher Education to educate the next generation of college leadership.

“Dr. Zimpher’s primary contributions will be around national and international scholarship regarding higher education, teacher preparation and school improvement,” said Robert Bangert-Drowns, dean of the School of Education.

"Nancy Zimpher is a nationally recognized thought leader on teacher preparation and the public policies that impact the breadth of the education pipeline," said UAlbany Interim President James R. Stellar. "SUNY and UAlbany are indeed fortunate that she will continue to work on these critical issues both on our campus and at RIG."

RIG’s new center will explore initiatives Zimpher introduced during her SUNY tenure, namely the idea of “systemness,” the collective impact approach to education and community building, and the importance of approaching education policymaking and funding across the full continuum from preschool to career launch. The center will initially focus on creating a statewide education data system, identifying evidence-based policies and creating a “train the trainer” certification. Further development of TeachNY and the New York State Master Teacher Program will be moved from SUNY System to the center.

“Together with my colleagues across SUNY and New York State, we have become a model for what public education can and should be in service to all students,” Zimpher said in a SUNY press release. “We need to continue to use what we know works and take it to scale to keep the dials moving in the right direction, from student achievement in early education, to college readiness, to college completion, to career success. This data-based, collective impact approach is the only way we will truly be able to educate more people and educate them better.”

Zimpher will be succeeded as SUNY chancellor by Kristina Johnson, effective Sept. 5.

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