Former insider seeks post: Ex-Spitzer aide interviewed for SUNY chancellor; IBM executive also in running

ALBANY, Jul 17, 2008 (Albany Times Union - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- IBM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Lloyd Constantine, an antitrust lawyer who was a senior adviser to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and remains one of his closest friends, has interviewed for the job of SUNY chancellor, according to a person with knowledge of the search.

Nick Donofrio, IBM executive vice president and an RPI trustee, also is a candidate for the chancellorship, the person said. But it's unclear how serious Donofrio's candidacy is, whether he has interviewed and whether he sought the job or was recruited to apply.

The 64-campus SUNY system has been without a permanent chancellor since John Ryan stepped down last June. The vacancy is directly affecting the University at Albany, which delayed its search for a president until SUNY picks a chancellor.

In his most recent reported public remarks on the search, SUNY Trustees Chairman Carl Hayden last month said the search committee had whittled the field down to six, including current college presidents, but more candidates could emerge.

He told the Times Union this week that the search was at "a very sensitive stage" and he could not confirm or deny any candidates. The goal remains to pick a chancellor by August.

Neither Donofrio nor Constantine would fit the traditional mold of a professor rising through the administrative ranks to academic leadership. The selection of Constantine in particular could raise eyebrows because of his close ties to Spitzer, who resigned amid a prostitution scandal.

The two met in 1982 when Constantine was antitrust chief in the attorney general's office and Spitzer, then a Harvard Law student, was an intern. Over the decades, Constantine worked with Spitzer as a law partner, donated to his campaigns and led his transitions to attorney general and governor.

As governor, Spitzer gave Constantine the task of coordinating what was shaping up to be a signature issues: higher education. Their agenda included hiring thousands of professors, building a $4 billion endowment for SUNY and CUNY and creating flagship campuses in Buffalo and Stony Brook. Then Spitzer imploded, the economy deteriorated and SUNY suffered budget cuts and uncertainty about its future.

In a brief phone interview Wednesday, Constantine confirmed his candidacy but declined to discuss his goals, saying the appropriate audience was the SUNY search committee, not the press.

The 61-year-old Williams College and Columbia Law graduate, who lives in Manhattan and Chatham, said he has had "several" interviews, both with the search firm retained by the trustees and with the search committee.

Donofrio is the executive vice president for innovation and technology at IBM. The 1967 RPI graduate announced in May that he would retire on Oct. 1 after 44 years at the company. An IBM spokesman, Clint Roswell, said Donofrio was traveling on business and unavailable.

The norm for academic leadership is a resume built in academic administration, but an increasing number of colleges are picking people from other backgrounds for jobs that demand political, fundraising and public-relations skills, said Scott Jaschik, editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Web site insidehighered.com.

Some examples are Charles Reed, chancellor of California State University system, who served as chief of staff to the governor of Florida, and Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina, who served as chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton. Parry can be reached at 454-5057 or by e-mail at mparry@timesunion.com

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