Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Following outgoing Chancellor Kent Syverud’s announcement regarding his recent cancer diagnosis, Syracuse University faculty, staff, trustees, students and alumni shared public messages of support.

“Thank you for believing in me,” Malcolm Taylor, an SU junior, wrote on SU’s Office of the Chancellor web page. “Your support has had a thoroughly profound impact on me.”

The departing chancellor announced he’d step down from his position ahead of his official May 11 departure date due to a brain cancer diagnosis. Syverud said he would begin “aggressive” treatment requiring him to stay in Michigan, in a Wednesday campus-wide email.

In the weeks following the announcement, the university created a message board for Syverud “from the Orange community.”

SU faculty and staff across multiple schools and colleges expressed their support and appreciation for Syverud. Zhenyu Gan, an assistant professor in SU’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, said he always felt a “special connection” to Syverud as a fellow University of Michigan alum.

“Chancellor Syverud’s courage, optimism, and dedication continue to inspire our community,” Gan wrote. “My family and I are keeping Chancellor Syverud and Dr. Chen in our thoughts and wishing them strength, comfort, and the very best in the days ahead.”

Some shared personal anecdotes about their own experiences with cancer. Professor Emeritus in SU’s History Department, David Bennett, thanked Syverud for “all he has done” as a faculty member of over 60 years.

“You have met my wife Gerda; she had brain surgery in June 2024 and it was a glioblastoma,” Bennett wrote. “Now, almost 23 months later, she is vibrant and at my side. But I know how challenging all this can be for your and your family. Our thoughts and prayers.”

Jorge Romeu, a part-time mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, shared his personal experiences concerning his wife’s battle with cancer.

“I can relate to this situation, as my wife Zoila was diagnosed with colon cancer last year, and was treated with chemo and radio treatments,” Romeu said. “I wish you and your family the very best.”

To show support for Syverud, SU’s Student Government Association will host a brain cancer walk on Tuesday alongside sixty campus organizations. The walk will raise funds for the Brain Tumor Foundation, in light of May serving as Brain Cancer Awareness Month.

Participants in the walk are encouraged to wear gray, the official color of brain cancer and tumor awareness, and pick up a ribbon at the Schine Student Center.

In Schine, there will be a community poster wall for students, faculty and staff to leave messages of support for Syverud and anyone in the community affected by brain cancer. Participants can also write personal letters of support to Syverud and his wife at a letter-writing station.

The event will begin at noon in Schine, with the walk to Crouse-Hinds Hall following at 2:30 p.m. There, the Rev. Devon Bartholomew, Christian Protestant chaplain at Hendricks Chapel, will lead a prayer.

-30-

Published on April 27, 2026 at 9:57 pm