The Chronicle: A New Leader Navigates SUNY’s Stormy Seas
For a former Navy officer who commanded fleets in the Mediterranean Sea and flew reconnaissance missions over Bosnia, it may seem odd to be considered courageous for submitting a budget proposal.
But the aggressive financial plan that Vice Adm. John R. Ryan pressed this academic year, during his first six months as chancellor of the State University of New York, has earned him a reputation as a gutsy leader.
Breaking with the recent history of modest budget requests by SUNY leaders, Admiral Ryan asked the state to give the 64-campus system significant increases, including more than $156-million in new funds to hire full-time faculty members, expand honors programs, and meet other needs.
In the end, SUNY received much of what the new chancellor requested. For the system’s four-year campuses and graduate-level colleges, the final state budget included $1.36-billion, an 11.3-percent increase over the previous year and enough money for the system to add 380 full-time faculty members. “It is by far and away the best budget we’ve had in two decades,” says Thomas F. Egan, chairman of SUNY’s Board of Trustees.
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