Nancy Cantor

Nancy Ellen Cantor (born February 4, 1952) is an American academic administrator, the chancellor of Rutgers University-Newark, in Newark, New Jersey, and incoming President of Hunter College.

A social psychologist, Cantor is recognized for her scholarly contributions 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.

Previously, Cantor was the first woman chancellor at Syracuse University.

Prior to that she was the first woman chancellor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Earlier, she had been provost at the University of Michigan.

Cantor was born in New York City.

She received her A.B. in 1974 from Sarah Lawrence College and her Ph.D. in psychology in 1978 from Stanford University.

At Stanford, Cantor initiated a program of research on person prototypes with Walter Mischel inspired by the categorization research of Eleanor Rosch and Carolyn Mervis.

Cantor has been recognized for establishing a new understanding of the role of universities in society that re-emphasizes their public mission.

Conversely, Cantor’s terms as chancellor have been criticized for placing too much emphasis on city development and admission status.

Early in her career, Cantor held teaching positions at the University of Michigan and Princeton University.

As an academic administrator, she served as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Michigan and then chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

She was the 1985 recipient of the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions in the area of personality psychology.

In 2004, Cantor was selected chancellor of Syracuse University.

The university's board of trustees judged her initial five years to be very successful, pointing to her work with students, faculty and staff that leveraged the university's historic strengths, fostered innovation and creativity, and connected the institution in ways with the community, all of which has increased the university's quality and national visibility.

Cantor received criticism for an overall deterioration in the university's academic standing as a research center resulting in a decline in admissions standards, with its acceptance rate climbing from mid-50 to more than 60 percent.

Certain faculty members took issue with what was seen as "authoritarian rule".

Syracuse history professor David H. Bennett commented, “My fear is that the university is moving away from selective to inclusive."

Upon her departure from Syracuse nine years later, Board of Trustees Chairman Richard L. Thompson said of Cantor, "The Rutgers-Newark campus and community are gaining one of the nation’s outstanding academic leaders and the Rutgers board is gaining a deeply thoughtful, energetic and committed partner. Nancy has been a superlative leader, seeing our University to wonderful success and helping us to build on our distinctive greatness and achieve new heights."

Cantor's premature resignation 2 years prior to the ending of her contract raised questions from those at the university as to whether or not she was "pressured" to leave.

The University received criticism for withdrawing from the Association of American Universities membership for "not meeting AAU criteria for producing research".

Cantor headed a major fundraising campaign at Syracuse and was responsible for the development of the university’s Scholarship in Action initiative, which emphasized the role of the university as a public good.

It was noted that Scholarship in Action was both popular and divisive at the same time.

The Connective Corridor was the physical part of Scholarship in Action that aimed to bridge gaps between a wealthy university and a surrounding struggling city.

In 2006, following segments of racially discriminatory content that aired at the student-run TV station HillTV, Cantor halted production so that a university panel could review the content in keeping with the university's conduct code.

“With free expression comes responsibilities for being a part of a campus community,” Cantor said in an interview.

"We have codes of conduct. I don’t think it is beyond question to ask people who are in a diverse campus community to abide by those codes."

Certain university faculty expressed concern that a divide had been created between free speech advocates and the chancellor supporters.

”There’s a tension,” said journalism professor Charlotte Grimes.

”I think people are increasingly cautious about what they say publicly, particularly if they don’t have tenure.

There is a sense that if you speak out you might very well get a phone call from the powers that be.” Over 60 professors and staff signed an open letter protesting the move and Cantor's decision.

Ultimately, a university panel allowed the station to re-open.

In 2014, Cantor left Syracuse and took a position as chancellor of Rutgers University–Newark.

On March 4, 2019, Cantor was video-taped confronting campus police during a minor traffic accident investigation involving her driver's car and a Rutgers University campus police car.

The confrontation was widely reported in the national news media.

The police video of the incident also went viral online when outbursts of Cantor shouting: "I’m the chancellor!"

caught public attention.

Three months later, in June 2019, Cantor issued an apology for her behavior, after an open records request brought the video to light.

On February 13, 2024, Cantor was appointed as the 14th President of Hunter College, with a term starting on August 12, 2024.

Cantor is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.