Nancy L. Zimpher

On May 31, 2016, Zimpher announced her intention to step down as SUNY chancellor on June 30, 2017.

Zimpher advocated the use of systemness to begin overhauling SUNY in her January 9, 2012 State of the University address.

At UC, she worked to eliminate the previous divisions among the colleges (such as by creating a single university commencement) and continuously championed UC|21, an academic plan which redefined UC as a "new urban research university" for the 21st century. It has also positioned Cincinnati as a candidate for AAU status. Her work was complicated by controversy over her ousting of longtime basketball coach Bob Huggins. Shortly after her arrival at UC, Huggins had been arrested for driving under the influence. This arrest, combined with the poor performance of Huggins' players in the classroom, were among many factors that led Zimpher to force Huggins to resign in 2005.

Zimpher's spouse is Kenneth R. Howey, Senior Fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, a public policy research institute at the University at Albany. She was also married to Craig Zimpher, Director of OSU residence hall Scott House, while studying for their advanced degrees at The Ohio State University from c: 1968 through the early 1970s.

Nancy L. Zimpher (born October 29, 1946) is an American educator, state university leader, and former Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY). Prior to her service at SUNY, Zimpher was a dean and professor of education at Ohio State University (where she had earned her bachelors, master's and doctoral degrees); then Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee between 1998 and 2003; and President of the University of Cincinnati from 2003 through May 2009. Zimpher was the first woman to serve as Chancellor of SUNY, UWM's first woman chancellor, and UC's first female president. Zimpher is a native of the village of Gallipolis in southern Ohio.