The University of Missouri's interim chancellor says he'll be leaving for new work as president at the New York Institute of Technology after May 3.
Hank Foley stepped into office after former chancellor R. Bowen Loftin stepped down amid protests over racially charged issues on campus. Before that, Foley served as MU's executive vice president of academic affairs.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Foley said the university was "a wonderful institution with a rich history and set of traditions," and that it is "fully modern and moving steadily into its future."
Chair of the MU Faculty Council Ben Trachtenberg says he wishes Foley well after he came in during such a tumultuous time at the University.
“It’s a tremendous amount of change at MU and the University of Missouri more broadly, if you think about it. We have a new President, the new president is going to now pick, for sure, a new chancellor for this campus. He has to pick a new chancellor for the Rolla campus at (Misssouri) S&T. And there are a variety of people serving in interim roles in important positions at the UM System. So we’re seeing some very big changes, we’re going to have a lot of new Curators. On the one hand the University has a tremendous amount of complicated problems, with for example our budget. On the other hand, there’s a big opportunity for some people to do things differently,” Trachtenberg said.
The search for a permanent MU chancellor has been underway. Foley had previously expressed his intentto apply for the permanent position.
“I’m on the search committee, so I can’t talk in a lot of details, other than to say that we have already been working very hard and (Foley) was only one of the candidates and we’ve seen a lot of names. So I have a lot of confidence that we’ll be able to recommend some very good people to the president,” Trachtenberg said.
UM System President Mun Choi issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, saying, “[Foley] is an outstanding academic leader who will bring his impressive set of experiences to achieve a bold vision for NYIT… In the coming weeks, I will be meeting with members of the MU community to develop a transition plan in anticipation of selecting the next permanent chancellor in May, 2017.”
In its statement Wednesday, the New York Institute of Technology said,” "Foley will assume the presidency of NYIT, an entrepreneurial, technology-driven university which recently completed its 60th year. NYIT is focused on educating culturally aware, solutions-oriented global citizens prepared for the international marketplace. Its research activity is at an all-time high."
The private, New York-based institution has about 10,000 students across seven academic schools and colleges. Its college of osteopathic medicine recently opened a second campus in Jonesboro, Arkansas, matriculating 120 students in its inaugural class there last fall.
