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Dear Syracuse University Community,

I know this is one of the most vibrant and demanding times of the academic year with final exams, end-of-semester celebrations, and the excitement of Commencement just around the corner. I am grateful for a few moments of your time because I want to share something personal with you.

Last week, I wasn’t feeling well, and I sought care at Crouse Hospital here in Syracuse. After further evaluation, I traveled to the University of Michigan to receive additional assessment from their specialists. I want to be straightforward with you: I have been diagnosed with a form of brain cancer.

I am currently undergoing treatment at the University of Michigan. I am where I need to be and I am in excellent hands. The care I have received from the teams at Crouse Hospital and University of Michigan Medicine has been nothing short of remarkable, and I am profoundly thankful. The Syracuse University Board of Trustees and the Michigan Board of Regents have shown me and my family a level of kindness and support that I will never forget. And, I am deeply grateful to Mike Haynie, who will assume all leadership responsibilities of Syracuse University effective immediately.

I am aware that I am one of many, many people who face a diagnosis like this—people who show up each day with courage. I take inspiration from all of them. I want you to know that I am ready to meet this challenge. I am approaching this with optimism, with determination, and with full confidence in the people who are caring for me. I believe in the road ahead, and I intend to walk it with everything I have.

I also find myself reflecting on what this moment has made so vivid to me: the extraordinary gift of great research universities. These institutions, places like Syracuse, like Michigan, exist not only to educate and to discover, but to translate that discovery into care for people when they need it most. I am fortunate, in ways I do not take lightly, to be receiving treatment at one of the finest academic medical centers in the world. That is what research universities make possible. I have spent my career believing in that mission deeply, and I believe in it more than ever now.

Syracuse University is in extraordinary hands, and I look forward to staying connected with this community that means so much to me. I will share updates along the way.

With gratitude and pride in everything this University stands for,

Chancellor Kent Syverud