Dive Brief:
- University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken was selected Wednesday as the City University of New York's next chancellor, following a 14-0 vote in his favor by the system's trustees.
- Milliken has served as president at Nebraska since 2004 and will take the reins at CUNY in June, overseeing a 50,000-student system over five times larger than the one he is currently leading.
- Problems facing the incoming chancellor include large numbers of impoverished students, many of who are also behind academically and come from New York City's public schools.
Dive Insight:
Milliken will be taking charge in a system that has seen the implementation of higher admissions standards and the addition of thousands of full-time faculty under previous chancellor Matthew Goldstein. Despite righting what was once referred to as "an institution adrift," Goldstein's common "learning outcomes" push ruffled faculty feathers over what they saw as a move to centralize control over curriculum while reducing instruction. In a statement, Milliken — who is leaving a school where the faculty senate leader says he "never felt anything but confidence in his leadership" — said he hopes to build on the university's achievements and is said to have expressed enthusiasm for confronting the issues CUNY is faced with.