By GREGORY ZELLER //
An ambitious and effective academic leader with a major-league résumé and a long history of diversity-centered initiatives will take Hofstra University’s reins this summer.
The university’s Board of Trustees announced Wednesday that Susan Poser, currently the University of Illinois at Chicago’s provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, will become Hofstra’s ninth president, succeeding current University President Stuart Rabinowitz.
Rabinowitz has served as president for 20 years, capping a half-century run as a Hofstra faculty member, dean and executive. In January, the president – who also co-chairs the Long Island Regional Planning Council alongside Long Island Association President Kevin Law – announced plans to retire from the university when his current term expires in August 2021.
His successor is a data-driven innovator credited with UIC’s 2019 acquisition of the John Marshall Law School – creating Chicago’s first public law school – and a host of faculty-enrichment initiatives, ranging from staff mentoring and leadership programs to pipelines soliciting underrepresented demographics.
As provost, Poser has also spearheaded several UIC student-success initiatives, leading to increased retention and graduation rates, and led the creation of new campus cultural centers for Arab American students and students with disabilities.
Stuart Rabinowitz: Successor success.
A New York City native who earned both her JD and PhD (in jurisprudence and social policy) from the University of California, Berkeley, Poser will be the first female president in Hofstra University’s 85-year history – and she couldn’t be better suited to the job, according to her most immediate predecessor.
“Her experience and ability will serve Hofstra University exceptionally well,” Rabinowitz said Wednesday. “I have had the privilege to work with the Hofstra University community – students, faculty, administration and staff, families, alumni and community – for many years, and know that under [Poser’s] leadership, Hofstra University will flourish for years to come.”
The president-in-waiting is no stranger to large-scale academics. Prior to her work at UIC – where she supervises 10 college deans and oversees enrollment, faculty affairs, global engagement and other critical operations for UIC’s 16 colleges – Poser spent more than a decade at the University of Nebraska, where she served on the law faculty and rose through the ranks to law college dean.
In Hempstead, the native New Yorker anticipates “a very happy homecoming,” and relishes the opportunity to continue Hofstra’s forward momentum.
“It will be a privilege to work with the Hofstra faculty, who provide an outstanding liberal arts education and a wide array of graduate and professional degrees that lead to satisfying and successful careers,” Poser noted. “I’m looking forward to working on the Hofstra campus, with its state-of-the-art facilities and arboretum.
“Hofstra has benefited from outstanding presidential, board, faculty and alumni leadership, creating an excellent platform to meet the challenges of higher education in the post-pandemic world,” she added. “I am looking forward to joining the Hofstra community and building on this legacy for years to come.
“It is a great honor to be named the ninth president of Hofstra University.”
