President SUNY Maritime steps down.

Carpenter Resigns as President of SUNY Maritime


September 6, 2013

Dear SUNY Maritime Nation:

Since the time I assumed the Presidency of SUNY Maritime College, I have been proud to serve alongside our dedicated students, our committed faculty and our exceptional staff. It has been such a pleasure to get to know and interact with our alumni and the many close and dedicated friends and supporters of the College. I have served as President of this wonderful institution for two full academic year cycles and after long and careful deliberation, I made the very difficult decision to leave my position as President of SUNY Maritime.

When I assumed the position, I was prepared to set aside personal and profession priorities and passions in order to allow the proper amount of time for necessary learning, relationship building and to fully assimilate into the environment. My past experience led me to believe this period would take approximately 18 months. Now, after more than two years into my tenure, I have come to the conclusion that in order to fulfill my responsibilities as President in the manner which I believe it deserves, I will never find the opportunity to pursue other important passions and priorities. While I might be willing to accept this at a professional level, I am not in my personal life.

Yesterday, I met personally with Chancellor Zimpher to discuss my decision and the reasons behind it. She has graciously accepted my decision to step down. We are both confident that the College is in a good position to keep the momentum moving forward and that there is a bright future for SUNY Maritime College. I anticipate that the Chancellor will appoint an acting president, in order to support my requested timeline to depart by the end of the Fall semester and that she will begin the search process for my successor.

I look forward to working with you during my remaining time to continue the very good work we are doing and to provide the most enriching environment possible and one in which our students can thrive and succeed. I will miss many things and many people and appreciate all the support I have received from my first day. I remain committed to the institution and its mission, and while I struggled over the decision to leave, I believe that I must make such a move at this juncture of my life.

Best,

RADM C

Hmm that is disappointing on a couple of fronts. The first is that she seemed very promising and that kind of turbulence is never good for an institution like this. Second- it bothers me that a job and school that cries out for a real deep personal level of commitment from someone could have been offered and accepted and within such a short period of time abandoned. Unless there was a huge and completely unforseen personal crisis, what could possibly have changed to cause her to quit in 18 months? A new opportunity is a crummy reason- it smacks of opportunism or an inability to wholeheartedly commit to something that from the beginning someone with that much experience should know would require you to be all in for the long haul. If that wasn't the expectation up front then she was never the right person. I personally think one of the reasons that these type schools should actively be searching for alumni to head them up is that they do have the passion and commitment to the organization, while all too often an outsider is just looking for a job, a resume bullet or something interesting to fill their time. I don't know what the story is here, and while I wish RADM Carpenter well, I am disappointed for Fort Schuyler's sake in this development.

bruno said:

Hmm that is disappointing on a couple of fronts. The first is that she seemed very promissing and that kind of turbulence is never good for an institution like this. Second- it bothers me that a job and school that cries out for a real deep personal level of commitment from someone could have been offered and accepted and within such a short period of time abandoned. Unless there was a huge and completely unforseen personal crisis, what could possibly have changed to cause her to quit in 18 months? A new opportunity is a crummy reason- it smacks of opportunism or an inability to wholeheartedly commit to something that from the beginning someone with that much experience should know would require you to be all in for the long haul. If that wasn't the expectation up front then she was never the right person. I personally think one of the reasons that these type schools should actively be searching for alumni to head them up is that they do have the passion and commitment to the organization, while all too often an outsider is just looking for a job, a resume bullet or something interesting to fill their time. I don't know what the story is here, and while I wish RADM Carpenter well, I am disappointed for Fort Schuyler's sake in this development.

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I agree with you on everything. I just don't know how a retired rear admiral couldn't see see or understand the level of commitment as president of a maritime college.
With that being said, I hope they find someone soon. Personnally I'm hoping for Captain Art Sulzer USN (ret) PhD. He's a SUNY grad and one of the top maritime educators.