Nancy L. Zimpher ‘he State University Chanel oF NewYork May 31,2016 Dear SUNY Family, Serving as chancellor of The State University of New York during time of such change and challenge, and of wonderful opportunities and possblives, ia great honor. The strides we have ‘made together to improve the delvery and qualty of publi higher education in New York state ate the highs of my career. Today, I write to tell you that | will end my tenure as chancellor on June 30,2017. My hope is ‘that by sharing this news now, Chairman MeCall and the SUNY Board of Trustees will ave ample time to find my succestor, someone wha will entinue t arty aut aur collective vision for SUNY. ‘when I came to SUNY seven years ago, New York wasn a period of major transition. You know better than anyone the serious tol the Great Recession took on our state's finances, creating challenges for aur eampuses and SUNY System Adminstration alike. As this university has done ‘throughout its 60-lus year history, we ose tothe challenge and met our responsibilty to Srdents, faculty, staf and taxpayers, SUNY came together and worked ina mars unified way ‘than ever before nrealzing our ful potential for sytemess, we brought together SUNY’s 64 ‘campuses o serve s an engine of economic revitalization and life-enhancing opportunity ‘throughout our stat, Inthe face of economic crisis, we have increased course offerings, added ful-time professors, ‘and implemented the nation’s most comprehensive seamiss vansfer system, These improvements and others have helped us decrease the time i takes students to complete thelr ‘degrees and reduce student debt, We have prioritized completion, because fartoo many students lave college without earning degrees or the training needed to compete and succeed In taday’s economy. And we've put a spotlight on te necessity to create a truly seamless education pipeline, from K-12 10 college, most recenty launching an historic partnership wth ‘the State Education Department to elevate the teaching profession, For your partnership, your leadership in tis work you should be very proud, adam very _rateful cannot thank you enough. Over the last seven year, we've not only weathered the chellenges at hang, but come out stronger for our efforts, Now more than ever, SUNY Is New York's number one asset, But our works far from done, and! intend to stay focused on several key inlatves over the next year. Foremost, we wll continue our collaboration with State Education Commissioner ‘MaryEllen Ela on the TeachNY campaign to ensure that we have enough high skilled Totem ToSearch vePovera (SUNY) Toseve ateachersto meet the growing demand. Adetionally | il continue to focus on furthering ‘SUN's competion agende to ensure students earn degrees on time and with s litle debt as possible. We will asa continue to work dligentl to secure an extension of NYSUNY 2020, which provides students and their families the ably to plan forthe cost of ther college eduction. ‘These three initiatives embody the totaly ofthe work we do st SUNY: providing 2 world-class {education that makes SUNY one of our nation’s premier university systems and taining the workforce that keeps New York competitive in global marketplace | cannot underscore enough how important partnership has been to the work we have accomplishes, Without you~ your ideas, your hard work, your Insights, your enthusiasm, your vwllingness to come tothe table and try something new—-sve would not have made the tremendous headway we have a system, and for which New York has gained national and ‘much deserved, attention. have been deeply honored to serve as chancellor ofthis gest system, and look forward to guiding SUNY through the next year— new time of change and ‘opportunty—as we continue to serve our students feculty, and stat, and the people of New York.