Nancy Cantor Named President of Hunter College in New York

Nancy Cantor, chancellor of Rutgers University Newark in New Jersey, has been appointed president of Hunter College in Manhattan, the largest college in the City University of New York system.

Over a four decade long career in higher education, Dr. Cantor has been the first-ever woman chancellor at three different universities. In addition to her current role at Rutgers University Newark, she was the first woman chancellor of the University of Illinois, as well as Syracuse University in New York where she also served as president.

Earlier in her career, she spent over ten years serving the University of Michigan in several leadership positions including provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, vice provost for academic affairs, professor of psychology, and senior research scientist at the Institute for Social Research. Additionally, she previously served as professor and chair of the department of psychology at Princeton University.

As a social psychology scholar, Dr. Cantor’s research has contributed to the understanding of how individuals perceive and think about their social worlds, pursue personal goals, and how they regulate their behavior to adapt to life’s most challenging social environments. She is the author and editor of numerous books including Our Compelling Interests: The Value of Diversity for Democracy and a Prosperous Society (Princeton University Press), 2016).

“I am deeply honored to join the CUNY family. Hunter embodies all that I hope for — and all that I believe our moment requires of — higher education as a significant lever for social mobility and scholarship that reimagines our world to more genuinely and equitably spread opportunity, health, creative expression and civic empowerment,” said Dr. Cantor. “Perhaps most critically, I am eager to collaborate with communities across New York City to highlight how higher education can answer the call of what the public needs, now and going forward.”

Dr. Cantor received her bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College in New York and her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University in California.