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Gretchen Ritter will become Syracuse University’s next vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer starting Oct. 1. She will replace John Liu as interim vice chancellor and provost, who has served the position since Jan. 2020.

Ritter was approved by the executive committee of SU’s Board of Trustees and endorsed by the search committee, according to an SU news release.

“Gretchen will be a strong advocate for our faculty and our students, and push our academic and research enterprise to new heights,” said Michael Schwartz, a member of the search committee and an associate professor in SU’s College of Law.

Ritter’s past academic work demonstrates her competency in making future contributions that will elevate SU’s global standing as a prominent research institution, Chancellor Kent Syverud said in the news release.

Ritter currently serves as executive dean and vice provost for The Ohio State University’s College of Arts and Sciences. She oversees 38 academic departments, over 20 centers and institutes and over 80 major programs. During her time at Ohio State, Ritter helped revamp the university’s theatre department, secured the college’s largest individual donation and expanded support for sponsored research, according to the release.

Ritter also served as the first female Harold Tanner Dean of Cornell University’s College of Arts and Sciences and oversaw 28 academic departments from 2013 to 2018. At Cornell, she expanded the diversity of faculty and the undergraduate student body, increased humanities research funding, helped endow the Center for the Study of Inequality and created programs supporting first-generation students.

Prior to her position at Cornell, Ritter worked for nine years at the University of Texas at Austin as vice provost of undergraduate education and faculty governance, co-chair of the Gender Equity Taskforce and director of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies.

In addition to her years in university administration, Ritter also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and Harvard University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Cornell and a Ph.D. in political science from MIT.

Ritter’s role at Ohio State along with her nearly 30 years of experience in higher education has prepared her for her new position at SU, she said in the news release.

“I look forward to working with faculty, leadership, students and staff at a time when Syracuse University is poised to achieve even higher levels of excellence,” Ritter said.

Published on June 14, 2021 at 7:01 pm

Contact Lilli: laiannel@syr.edu | @LilliIannella