Nancy Cantor

Cantor is widely recognized for helping forge a new understanding of the role of universities in society that re-emphasizes their public mission. She is responsible for the development of Syracuse University’s vision, Scholarship in Action, emphasizing the role of the university as a public good. 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. A central aspect of the pursuit of this vision is cross-sector collaboration in the City of Syracuse that has won acclaim locally and nationally. This includes the university's having been named among the first institutions to earn the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's classification as a university committed to Community Engagement, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York's having granted Cantor the 2008 Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award. Scholarship in Action was both popular and divisive at the same time.

Cantor was video-taped angrily confronting police during a minor Rutgers-Newark traffic accident investigation on March 4, 2019 involving her driver's car and a Rutgers University police car. The confrontation which involved Cantor trying to pull rank on the police was reported in the news media. The police video of the incident also went viral online when outburts of Cantor shouting: "If I miss my plane, you folks are in big trouble!" and "I’m the chancellor!" caught the public's attention. One of her staff members who had arrived on the scene was recorded saying: "Take a picture and let her go. Would you do this if she was the president of the United States? No, no you wouldn’t." The officers on the scene however remained passive and stated that they could not allow Cantor to leave until they had gathered all the details of the incident and received approval from their supervisor.

On June 11, 2019 Cantor issued an apology for her behavior with campus police after reportedly becoming aware of the released police video. “I write with my heartfelt apology to you for the way I reacted to the situation,” Cantor said in her apology letter. “I realize clearly that I was not my best self that morning. I have great respect for RUPD and am grateful for the work that our officers do every day to keep our campus and community safe and secure.” Rutgers senior vice president Peter McDonough released a statement: “The chancellor saw the video, apologized and her apology was accepted by those involved. There is really nothing to add to that.” Rutgers-Newark Police Chief Carmelo Huertas said the campus police accepted Cantor's apology.

Among the boards of which Chancellor Cantor is a member are the American Institutes for Research, the New York Academy of Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Say Yes to Education, in addition to being past chair of the board of directors of the American Association for Higher Education and 2006 chair of the board of the American Council on Education (ACE).. She is an Honorary Trustee of the American Psychological Foundation and was national co-chair of Imagining America's Tenure Team Initiative. She served as co-chair of the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council, a post to which she was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Cantor has been an advocate for racial and gender equality in colleges. She was a key player at the University of Michigan's case of affirmative action in the cases of Grutter and Gratz, which were decided by the Supreme Court in 2003. The Supreme Court ruled against the University of Michigan in the latter case, holding that their policies of affirmative action were unconstitutional. Cantor lectures and writes extensively on the role of universities as anchor institutions in their communities, along with other issues in higher education such as rewarding public scholarship, sustainability, liberal education and the creative campus, the status of women in the academy, and racial justice and diversity.

She received her A.B. in 1974 from Sarah Lawrence College and her Ph.D. in psychology in 1978 from Stanford University. Previously, Cantor served as chancellor at Syracuse University, provost at the University of Michigan, and chancellor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Cantor is married to sociology professor Steven R. Brechin, who teaches at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.