Engineer, Inventor Named SUNY's New Chancellor

PURCHASE, NY — Dr. Kristina M. Johnson has been elected by the Trustees of the State University of New York to serve as SUNY's 13th Chancellor. SUNY is the largest comprehensive statewide system of public universities and colleges in the nation. Johnson's career has spanned academia, business, and public service.

Dr. Johnson currently is CEO of Cube Hydro Partners, a clean energy company she co-founded in 2011. Johnson served as Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and Provost and Senior Vice President at The Johns Hopkins University before her appointment in 2009 to serve as Under Secretary of Energy at the US Department of Energy.

"On behalf of Purchase College, I congratulate Dr. Kristina M. Johnson on her appointment," SUNY Purchase President Thomas J. Schwarz said. "With her wide range of experience in higher education, the private sector, and in the government, I believe that Dr. Johnson will be the ideal person to lead the largest state system in the country during this exciting time of transition. I am confident in Dr. Johnson's ability to be an innovative leader who will continue to focus on the academic excellence that is the hallmark of SUNY as we work together to expand accessibility, affordability, and completion.”

Dr. Johnson will take over as New York begins its ground-breaking Excelsior Scholarship program. The state will make tuition free at State University of New York and City University of New York campuses and two-year community colleges for students whose families earn less than $125,000 per year.

The program will be phased in over a period of three years, beginning with students whose families make less than $100,000 in fall 2017, the governor's office said. The cap for eligibility will be raised to $110,000 in 2018 and to $125,000 in 2019.

Recipients of the scholarship will have to enroll in 30 credits per year but will be allowed the flexibility to take fewer credits in one semester than another. They must also maintain a GPA necessary for the successful completion of their program. There is, of course, another catch: Students will have to work in-state after graduation for the same amount of years they receive the scholarship.

More than 75 percent of New York families with college-aged children will be eligible for the scholarship, an idea first floated by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who met with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in January when the idea was announced. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton appeared with Cuomo when he signed the plan into law.

Throughout her career, Dr. Johnson has been an advocate for women in leadership, advanced STEM and STEAM education, pioneered the creation of jobs through higher education-industry partnerships, established intensive research opportunities for students and faculty, and positioned leading institutions of higher education for greater success through the development of innovative strategic plans, SUNY officials said.

She holds over one hundred patents in the United States and abroad and was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 2015. She previously served on the faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at the University of Colorado Boulder and as Director of the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center for Optoelectronics Computing Systems at Boulder.

"Kristina Johnson has enjoyed an incredible career as a thinker, an educator, an entrepreneur, and an advocate,” said Marc Cohen, Student Assembly President and SUNY Trustee. “Throughout her interview process she made it clear that not only was she interested in listening to stakeholders, but she already knew who they were. She demonstrated time and again an interest in engaging full and true shared governance, including the voices of the most important people in the entire system.”

Johnson earned her BS, MS, and PhD in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

"Congratulations to Dr. Kristina M. Johnson on her appointment as the 13th Chancellor of the State University of New York," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "Dr. Johnson is an exceptional talent who brings an extensive record in higher education, the sciences, and the private sector to the SUNY community... New York is leading the way in public higher education, and Dr. Johnson will help maintain the upward trajectory of one of the nation’s largest systems of higher education."

Current Chancellor Nancy Zimpher will step down from the position in June 2017 after an eight-year term. Dr. Johnson’s appointment as chancellor is effective Sept. 5, at an annual state salary of $560,000. Interim leadership for the period between June and September will be appointed by the SUNY Board of Trustees at its June 21 meeting.

"I would also like to thank Chancellor Nancy Zimpher for her tremendous contributions to SUNY over the last eight years," Cuomo continued. "She was a fearless advocate for the SUNY system who worked tirelessly to turn it into the word-renowned institution that it is today. Nancy has left her mark not only on SUNY, but its excellent faculty and staff, its outstanding students, and all New Yorkers."

PHOTO/ SUNY

SEE ALSO:

• Free Tuition for New York Public College Students Under Scholarship Plan
  
• College Free Tuition: Hillary Clinton Joins Gov. Cuomo For Signing