Kent Syverud to remain in Michigan in coming weeks for cancer treatment
Outgoing Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud will remain in Michigan for brain cancer treatment in the weeks before commencement, he announced in an campus-wide email Wednesday. Syverud announced his cancer diagnosis on April 15. Leonardo Eriman | Daily Orange File Photo
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Outgoing Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud will remain in Michigan for brain cancer treatment in the weeks before commencement, he announced in a Wednesday campus-wide email.
The departing chancellor, who announced he’d step down from his position ahead of his official May 11 departure date due to a cancer diagnosis, said he would begin “aggressive” treatment that requires him to stay in Michigan.
“This saddens me, because I had envisioned spending these final weeks before commencement thanking hundreds of you individually for your acts of brilliance, kindness, and judgment in building the extraordinary community that Syracuse University has become over these past 12 years,” Syverud wrote. “Those conversations may not be possible now, and that weighs on me.”
Syverud announced in August he’d be leaving SU at the end of the academic year and was slated to become the next president of the University of Michigan, his alma mater. Amid his diagnosis, he announced he’d no longer serve as president and instead will continue as a law professor and special advisor to the UMich Board of Regents.
The departing chancellor, replaced by acting Chancellor Mike Haynie on April 15, used the email to share his thanks for the well-wishes from the Syracuse and broader central New York community.
“I have heard from and felt the presence of everyone, from the Otto team to the marching band, from my brothers at Delta Kappa Epsilon to students, faculty, staff, and trustees from across the University,” he wrote. “Your words and deeds have meant more than you know.”
Since his announcement, several figures on and off SU’s campus have issued statements in support of Syverud, including Syracuse women’s basketball team Coach Felisha Legette-Jack, SU Board of Trustees Chairman Jeffrey Scruggs and Haynie.
“Your prayers, your kind thoughts, and your expressions of concern have given me comfort, strength, and inspiration in ways that have profoundly affected my care—especially in the hard moments,” Syevrud wrote.
