M
ike Haynie learns something new every year.
Last year, the vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation chose artificial intelligence as his self-prescribed lesson. This year, a recently acquired shipment of bees and an Amazon beekeeping suit pointed to a year of studying apiculture.
As he officially sheds the “vice” from his title and assumes the chancellorship at Syracuse University, Haynie is in for a series of new lessons.
Haynie took over as acting chancellor last week after Kent Syverud announced he would step down after a brain cancer diagnosis. He steps into the role in an era during which higher education is, in his words, “one of the most disrupted sectors of American society.”
Universities today are navigating hostility from the federal government and battling the reality that potential domestic and international applicants are increasingly uninterested in spending hundreds of thousands to attend top schools.
“Candidly, if my situation were different, meaning the opportunity for me to do this job somewhere else, I would have thought very differently about it,” Haynie said in a sit-down with The Daily Orange. “But I’ve been here 20 years, and I love this university.”
Haynie arrived at SU as a Whitman School of Management professor in 2006. In 2014, he jumped up to senior leadership alongside outgoing Chancellor Syverud, who arrived at SU that year.
Syverud added a second vice chancellor to his senior leadership — in addition to the traditionally singular vice chancellor and provost — because he wanted a person who could tackle issues that didn’t fit into the university’s “traditional structures,” Haynie said.
“It doesn’t fit anywhere? Okay, that’s what Mike’s going to do,” he quipped.
Mike Haynie captured in the reflection of his Chancellor’s Medal, which hangs in his National Veterans Resource Center office. He received the medal in 2021 to commemorate his leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic. Avery Magee | Photo Editor
As a result, Haynie has held a “seemingly odd collection of assignments” in his time as vice chancellor. In addition to teaching at Whitman, Haynie serves as the school’s executive dean, a Syverud-schemed arrangement aligned with Whitman’s goals to become a top 25 undergraduate business program by 2030.
Beyond Whitman, Haynie managed the university’s COVID-19 response, and his portfolio today includes SU’s relationship with Micron Technology and his role as founder and executive director of the D’Aniello Institute for Veterans and Military Families. In 2018, Haynie was named a University Professor, SU’s most senior academic faculty rank.
“His selection came as no surprise to those who know his record — two decades of extraordinary service that have shaped Syracuse,” Syverud wrote in a statement to The D.O.
After Syverud announced in August that he would depart the university at the end of the academic year, SU formed the Chancellor Search Committee to find his successor. Haynie said he was nominated by other faculty, and, at the end of 2025, told the committee he would move forward in the process.
Following multiple rounds of interviews with trustees, committee co-chairs Shelly Fisher and Lisa Fontenelli flew to campus to deliver their decision. On March 3, Haynie was announced as SU’s 13th chancellor in the building he paved the way for, the National Veterans Resource Center.
The NVRC represents an initiative Haynie championed since he arrived at SU.
For Haynie, the son of a school teacher and a guidance counselor-turned-small business owner outside of Philadelphia, joining the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps was the only way to afford college.
Inspired by the original “Top Gun,” Haynie chased his dreams of flying jets to the University of Delaware’s Air Force ROTC program — although his less-than-20/20 vision meant he had to ditch his flying dream.
From his first station in Idaho to an aid-de-camp job for a four-star general at Air Force Materiel Command, Haynie spent over a decade in the Air Force “leading people, managing big things and deploying all over the world.” He moved nine times in 14 years.
In 1998, the Air Force sent Haynie to get a Master’s of Business Administration at the University of Oregon and then teach at the academy in Colorado Springs. Two years later, the Air Force sent him to the University of Colorado Boulder, where he got a Ph.D. in entrepreneurship.
“I loved teaching in ways I did not expect,” Haynie said. “I loved being around students. It was energizing for me.”
After teaching at the Air Force Academy, Haynie realized he couldn’t imagine taking a non-teaching gig. So, he decided to leave the military and enter the civilian academic job market. He was on the precipice of taking a job at Oregon State University before he embarked on a campus visit at SU.
Haynie (center) receives applause from university leaders at his announcement event on March 3. Event speakers included Student Government Association President German Nolivos (second from right) and Chancellor Search Committee co-chair Lisa Fontenelli (right). Avery Magee | Photo Editor
Just months into his first job at Whitman, Haynie started pitching programs for veterans. Where other institutions would’ve shut him down, Haynie said SU was encouraging of his proposed ventures.
“That’s not typical of a lot of places,” Haynie said. “I appreciate the entrepreneurial bent of this place, and people’s willingness to let you be who you are.”
Since launching the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans in 2007, the IVMF has hosted over 100,000 veterans and military-connected entrepreneurs through a handful of programs, such as Boots to Business for uniformed service members and EBV for transitioning veterans.
Susan Vernick, an alum of Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship’s 2024 programming in Atlanta, came to SU in February to lead an etiquette luncheon at the NVRC. While she was setting up, Haynie came over to her.
“He was like, ‘I had to come up and see you because I remember that you were a graduate of V-WISE Atlanta,’” Vernick said. “I said to him, ‘I remember your one seminar, some things really stuck out to me.’”
As he pitched initiatives and opened a new institute, Haynie remained active in the classroom. Alumni who took his classes describe him as an authentic, energetic teacher who stood out to them. Many of them remain in contact with him today.
Juliana Cirillo, a 2022 alum who dual-majored in finance and accounting, took her senior capstone twice a week at 8 a.m. with Haynie in fall 2021.
“He chose only one section to teach, and he picked the 8 a.m. because he was like, ‘If there are seniors that signed up for an 8 a.m. capstone, I want to be the one to teach them,’” Cirillo remembers him telling the class.
Cirillo said Haynie was a dedicated professor who made the early class enjoyable and “felt like a friend.”
“It’s a very involved class, so we were meeting a lot outside of the classroom,” Cirillo said. “Having Haynie was awesome for that because his office in the veterans center was so nice. He was always making time for us.”
Daniel Porcaro had Haynie as a professor back in 2008. The 2009 alum and Haynie bonded over their shared interest in cars and remained in touch after Porcaro graduated. Both he and Cirillo sent him an email after he was announced, and both received a response.
Porcaro said Haynie’s class was unlike others he took at SU. To him, it didn’t feel like Haynie was there to do work, but rather for the students, who called him “Haynie” and “Mike.”
Years after graduating from SU, Porcaro joined the Navy. He said he is proud to promote SU’s “best place for veterans” promise, a commitment Syverud pledged early on — and one he’s sure will continue with Haynie in charge.
“I had thought for years now I was going to see an announcement for Haynie being a chancellor or president, but at another school,” Porcaro said. “I thought, ‘He’s publicly recognized as being awesome, somebody’s going to pluck him.’”
Outside of the classroom, the entrepreneurship evident in professor Haynie’s early months at SU is on full display in acting Chancellor Haynie — who also had a hand in SU’s satellite campus in Washington, D.C., and the recent Whitman-Newhouse School of Public Communications Center for the Creator Economy.
“Mike already knows that his greatest strength is his entrepreneurial approach to all that he does. He has a unique ability to cultivate the resources and relationships that bring his vision to life,” Syverud wrote. “My advice has been to lean into that strength.”
Elizabeth Wimer, an assistant teaching professor at Whitman, also knows Haynie from the many IVMF programs for which the two have worked together. She described Haynie as “authentic” and “committed.”
“When he says he’s going to do something, he’s going to do something,” Wimer said. “That is a remarkable trait to find in a leader.”
Wimer’s dog, Bauer, is Whitman’s therapy dog. She said Haynie sees him whenever he can, including spontaneously around the business school and at Bauer Hours.
Haynie admires a therapy dog at Schine Student Center in February. The acting chancellor is an outspoken dog lover and has golden retrievers of his own. Avery Magee | Photo Editor
“Any chance he has to connect with students, he will run at 100%,” Wimer said. “He’s served as a judge for my first-year business class presentations. He’s thrilled to be part of the student interaction.”
As a professor for Whitman’s “Shark Tank”-style capstone course, Haynie approaches many of his big ideas the same way his pupils do — with a pitch.
Much like the IVMF, which began with Haynie pitching his plans to then-Chancellor Nancy Cantor, the CCE traces its roots to a pitch deck on an iPad. Newhouse Dean Mark Lodato, who was on the Chancellor Search Committee, said Haynie took him to coffee to propose his CCE plans, and has since remained “hands-on” with the initiative.
“For me, it was sort of a lightbulb moment,” Lodato said. “It made a lot of sense, (Haynie) had clearly done his homework and had a clear vision of what this could be.”
While launching his own entrepreneurial undertakings, Haynie also mentored Whitman students doing the same. As he did with many students seeking to bring their big ideas to market, Haynie supported 2023 Whitman alum Jack Adler as he launched his business, Out2Win.
“You almost forget he is as busy as he always was, he never made it seem that way,” Adler said. “He always made time, and I’m sure he still will in the same way.”
Although he’s at work often — clocking in early to have breakfast at Orange or Ernie Davis dining halls, and staying late for Seder at the JMA Wireless Dome, basketball games or a Student Government Association meeting — he often spends his away-from-office time fishing and exploring the outdoors.
When he first arrived at SU, Haynie bought a house close to campus. Today, the acting chancellor lives at his 11-acre, lakefront home in Cazenovia with his partner, Kevin Clark, his golden retrievers, Ollie and Daisy, his tractor and his chickens.
In recent weeks, the university has gotten a taste of Haynie’s decision-making via two high-profile appointments, a new director of athletics and a men’s basketball coach.
The university was already well into the search for retiring Director of Athletics John Wildhack’s successor when Haynie was announced, he said. After Zoom interviews with the committee’s final candidate pool, Haynie met Bryan Blair in Detroit before deciding he was the man for the job.
Haynie alongside his director of athletics selection, Bryan Blair, at the Miron Victory Court on March 19. After interviewing the Toledo athletic director over Zoom, Haynie said he flew to Denver to meet him in person. Avery Magee | Photo Editor
Then came the next big decision: Gerry McNamara. When Haynie arrived at SU, Jim Boeheim’s men’s basketball team was only a few years separated from its 2003 national title. The men’s team Haynie is inheriting is not like the one of years prior; it’s a half-decade deep in a March Madness drought and slipping away from national relevance.
“I thought it was funny that the first things they’re asking me to do are the things that if I get wrong, people will run me out of this town,” Haynie said, referring to the duo of athletics decisions.
Haynie interviewed McNamara on the phone from a Burger King parking lot on the drive back from watching women’s basketball’s NCAA Tournament campaign in Storrs, Connecticut. He said he was “involved” in the process, but deferred the final call to Blair.
Although Haynie is stepping into the chancellor role at a time of nationwide change, he’s been working atop university governance for over a decade. He is one of the only remaining members of Syverud’s original senior leadership team.
Reflecting on his time working with Syverud, whom he called “tremendously smart, thoughtful and demanding,” Haynie said he credits the outgoing chancellor with SU’s infrastructure improvements and focus on competitive strategy.
“That said, we are very different people,” Haynie said. “He and I often have had different views on how to move something forward.”
Outgoing Chancellor Kent Syverud flanks his successor just minutes after he made his first speech as Syracuse University’s next leader. Haynie is one of few senior leaders remaining from Syverud’s initial executive staff. Avery Magee | Photo Editor
Looking ahead, the acting chancellor emphasized that students will be central to his tenure, a message he first made in his announcement speech.
“My joy in this work is students,” he said. “I want to focus everything that we do, and everything that we are, as we think about strategy for the institution (on students).”
Since March, students have seen the acting chancellor eating Panda Express at Schine Student Center, popping into dining halls and cheering at basketball games. The students who know Haynie well said this is nothing new.
Emily Hunnewell, a sophomore business management and policy studies student, said Haynie often crashes her Whitman tours. Back when she was on the tour as a prospective student in 2024, she recalls Haynie pushing her mother’s wheelchair and making sure she didn’t get separated from the group.
Haynie said he’s met with plenty of students, including a group of students who pitched him a new club, a violinist from the School of Visual and Performing Arts and some metalsmithing students who gifted him a fishing-themed lapel pin.
“He’s very student-facing. He emphasizes making sure student voices aren’t being left out of the rooms where important decisions are being made,” said Emily Castillo-Melean, the incoming SGA president.
Haynie learns as much as he teaches. In addition to his annual self-imposed lessons, the acting chancellor spends his days at SU connecting with the people around him.
“He loves to learn from his students, too,” Cirillo said. “I would say he is equally willing to teach and learn.”
This year’s lesson will perhaps be more intense than most. But luckily, Haynie’s done almost two decades of studying for the job.
“If not me, who?” he said. “Given what’s ahead for the university, my argument for myself is I’m probably one of few people that is best positioned to actually help the university navigate what’s ahead.”
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Photo by Avery Magee | Photo Editor
Published on April 23, 2026 at 12:57 am