When arrived at Syracuse University’s in the fall of 2006 as an assistant professor, he had recently transitioned out of the Air Force as an officer after 14 years of service. He arrived in Syracuse with no particular intention of staying more than a few years. “My brain was sort of wired,” he told students at a recent fireside chat to celebrate Whitman Day. “I was used to staying in a place for a couple years.”

Nearly two decades later, on March 3, 2026, the Syracuse University Board of Trustees appointed him the institution’s 13th chancellor and president. The arc from his arrival to the University’s highest office is a story of scholarship put to use and of research that charted a new course.

The Scholar Behind the Work

Haynie completed a doctoral degree in entrepreneurship and business strategy at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His scholarship has been published in the world’s leading business and entrepreneurship journals, and his body of work has now been cited approximately 9,000 times.

That number places him, as Whitman Interim Dean Alex McKelvie said as he introduced Haynie at the fireside chat, “among the most influential entrepreneurship scholars in the world.” At Syracuse, he was recognized for his work by earning the Barnes Professorship and, in 2018, was named University Professor, the University’s highest faculty distinction.

“What makes Mike’s scholarly record so remarkable is not just the volume or the impact—it’s the context,” says McKelvie. “He has 21 journal publications with more than 100 citations each, including five with more than 500 citations each, while simultaneously building programs, leading institutions and taking on the University’s most pressing challenges. Most scholars of his caliber are doing research full time. Mike was doing it as a fraction of his job. That is what separates him.”

Much of Haynie’s work focused on entrepreneurial cognition: how successful founders think, decide and act under uncertainty. His findings pointed repeatedly toward military veterans—a population largely absent from entrepreneurship discourse, yet shaped by training that produces exactly the traits research links to high-performing entrepreneurs: quick consequential decisions, leadership under pressure and persistence through unpredictable environments. What was missing was a program to help them translate those skills into building a business.

An Entrepreneurship Program for Veterans

About six months into his Whitman appointment, Haynie hit upon what a program could look like. His idea was to bring seriously wounded post-9/11 veterans to campus and help them become small business owners. “Here I am, an entrepreneurship professor,” he said. “I’m a veteran myself. It’s something I could do.”

He proposed the program to then-Whitman Dean Melvin Stith, a Vietnam veteran, and set one condition that the program would be free. Stith’s response: “Sure. Go raise the money.”

Haynie had never raised money before. Two months before the first program was set to launch, he had raised roughly $20,000 of the $120,000 he needed. It was at that time that he first met Martin J. Whitman, a University benefactor and the school’s namesake.

Whitman, a World War II veteran, wrote a check and covered the gap. “He made a point to me that has stuck with me now for 20 years,” Haynie said, “that this is an institution that gives people a chance when others would not.”

That first program, launched in 2007, became the : a three-phase curriculum combining 30 days of online business instruction, a nine-day residential at Whitman, and a year of mentorship.

More than 2,400 veterans have now graduated from EBV. Approximately 79% have started or continued to grow their own businesses, and 92% of those businesses remain in operation. The program expanded into a national consortium headquartered at Syracuse.

Inc. magazine named EBV one of the country’s 10 best entrepreneurship programs in 2011, the Department of the Army recognized it as a national best practice and in May 2013 CBS News’ “60 Minutes” spent nearly a month on campus following the work.

From Program to Institute

As EBV’s profile grew, letters from World War II veterans led Haynie to Syracuse’s own history. GIs who accepted Chancellor William Pearson Tolley’s 1944 open invitation had transformed the school from a 4,100-student regional college into a research university of nearly 18,000. Fast forward decades later, Haynie saw that no center in American higher education was systematically studying veterans’ and military families’ concerns.

�մǻ岹��’s is a national hub offering career, entrepreneurship and transition programs alongside research, policy analysis and community partnerships for service members, veterans and their families.

With initial funding he secured from JPMorgan Chase, the IVMF became the nation’s first interdisciplinary academic institute chartered to advance the policy, economic and wellness concerns of America’s veterans and military-connected families. Through partnerships with corporations, government agencies and nonprofits, it built new pathways for veterans transitioning to civilian life. More than 230,000 service members, veterans and military family members have participated in its programs.

Haynie served as the University’s vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation for more than a decade. He went on to chair the U.S. Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Employment, Training and Employer Outreach and to help lead long-term reform at Veterans Affairs. Time magazine named him one of 16 individuals working toward a more equal America in 2020, the same year he led the University’s COVID-19 response, which earned him the 2021 Chancellor’s Medal.

A Scholar and Teacher at Heart

Twenty years after he first arrived on campus, Haynie’s dedication to the Whitman School remains as strong as ever. In 2023, he was named the school’s executive dean. In that role, he provided strategic direction for Whitman’s Transformation 2030 plan, under which the school has risen in national rankings, strengthened its research profile and expanded experiential learning opportunities. Under his leadership, Whitman recently launched the in partnership with the .

“I’ve had the rare opportunity to see Mike Haynie in action across nearly every layer of the University’s innovation ecosystem. What stands out is how deeply personal his commitment to entrepreneurship really is. Mike doesn’t just lead programs. He lives the work,” says Linda Dickerson Hartsock, founder and retired executive director of the University’s Blackstone Launchpad. “He understands the creative energy of startup ventures because he embodies those qualities himself.”

Hartsock says Haynie’s connection to students really defines him. “As a mentor, he has been instrumental to some of our most promising student and alumni startups,” she says. “He has a way of pushing founders to think bigger while grounding them in disciplined execution.”

A Chancellor Formed by His Work

Haynie’s appointment as Syracuse’s 13th chancellor was the natural extension of what his scholarship had always done: identify a problem, build something real in response and grow it.

At the fireside chat, Haynie was asked what excites him most about what lies ahead for the University. His answer was characteristically direct: the same conditions that challenge higher education—declining enrollment, eroding public trust and the disruption brought by AI—are also the conditions that create the most opportunity for institutions willing to respond with speed and imagination.

“If we do that well and do that quickly,” he said, “we can thrive relative to our peers.”

Understanding of copper formation means examining material forged at depths of nine to 19 miles beneath the Earth’s surface. Remarkably, Emerson Long ’26 has spent the past year recreating those conditions in a campus lab.

Long is a double major in geology and physics in the (A&S). She and her faculty mentor, , professor of petrology and experimental geochemistry in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, have spent the past year examining how copper behaves when magma (molten rock) and fluid coexist at the crushing pressures and temperatures of the lower continental crust.

The work has implications that reach far beyond the laboratory. That’s because copper is used in modern and clean energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles, lithium ion batteries and LED lighting.

“While my research doesn’t directly relate to finding and extracting copper deposits, it does give us a better understanding of the entire system for copper deposit formation,” Long says. “It’s really exciting to me to contribute to that understanding in some way.”

Going Deep to Understand the Surface

Copper deposits near the Earth’s surface that are extracted from mines are formed when copper-rich hydrothermal fluids move upward through the crust and deposit minerals along the way. Those fluids originate much deeper in the Earth’s magmatic systems, where molten rock and aqueous fluid coexist under intense heat and pressure. Long and Thomas are studying how copper splits itself between magma and fluid at those extreme source conditions.

Previous research on copper partitioning has focused on shallower, upper-crust-level conditions. This project goes beyond prior work to assess what happens at conditions equivalent to those found in the lower continental crustal source regions where magmas are generated. It’s a largely unexplored frontier in the study of copper deposit formation.

High-Pressure Science

To simulate those deep-Earth conditions in the lab, Long runs experiments in piston-cylinder devices, instruments capable of generating extraordinary pressures and temperatures found miles underground. When an experiment concludes, the magma cools into a glass and the fluid gets trapped in tiny pockets within a piece of quartz, called fluid inclusions. Long then uses a suite of sophisticated analytical instruments to measure the copper concentration in both the glass and the fluid inclusions.

That “deep dive” into the data helps extract meaning from material forged under those precise conditions. “I really enjoy the hands-on aspects of this research the most,” Long says. “I’ve had a few other short-term projects that have been more computational-based and I’ve realized that I really love lab work. I also just find the high-pressure experiments to be really fun and it’s really crazy to me still that we can emulate such extreme conditions in the lab.”

That focus recently took her to the facility in Denver, where she used specialized instrumentation (laser ablation ICP-MS, a type of mass spectrometry), one of the only ways to measure the chemistry of fluid inclusions. There are only a handful of facilities in the U.S. capable of doing that type of analysis, a notoriously difficult process.  “It was a really great experience,” Long says. “I learned so much about the technique and it was really amazing to be there and help with the analyses since it is such a niche method.” Being at the U.S. Geological Survey facility also allowed her to observe professionals conducting scientific research for a government organization, she says.

Long also took her studies globally experience that mirrors a prompting students to shape the future as engaged global citizens by combining studies in diverse areas of interest. She enjoyed both her science major and French/Francophone Studies minor during an immersive experience there, where she lived with a French host family, learned more about French history and culture, participated in a community internship conducting physics research at the University of Strasbourg, and took several courses in French.

Mentorship and Mastery

Later, Thomas’ science lab on campus provided Long with a wealth of experiential learning opportunities and allowed her to gain an impressive range of technical skills. She has conducted electron microprobe analysis, laser ablation mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Those experimental and analytical methods  represent an arsenal of cutting-edge geochemical lab techniques capable of identifying the chemical fingerprints of minerals and rocks at an extraordinarily fine scale.

The (SOURCE) supported Long’s work through Bridge and Fellowship awards. She also worked with the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising. She says her awards, including a summer living stipend, made it possible to dedicate added time over a summer in Syracuse to sustain the momentum on her lab research.

In August, Long begins Ph.D. studies in geology at Purdue University, where she’ll continue conducting similar experimental research. For her, the appeal of the geological field goes beyond technique or career preparation. It is about being able to contribute in a hands-on way to one of the defining challenges of the coming decades: building the clean energy economy the world needs, starting with a deeper understanding of the Earth beneath our feet.

Earning a Maximizing Investigators’ Research (MIRA) Award from the (NIH) is among the most competitive distinctions a biomedical researcher can achieve. Two faculty members in the (A&S) have just joined those prestigious ranks.

, assistant professor of biology, and , assistant professor of chemistry, have each been awarded the grants through NIH’s .

The awards provide each faculty member approximately $2 million over four to five years to support their research initiatives, meaning comprehensive support for an investigator’s entire research program. By freeing recipients from the constraints of traditional grant applications, MIRA awards are designed to give researchers greater financial stability to tackle bigger, bolder questions; more freedom to shift focus when promising new discoveries emerge; and more time to conduct actual research activities and mentor junior researchers rather than having to continually write grant applications.

The awards are highly competitive and carry significant prestige. Duncan Brown, vice president for research, calls them “a phenomenal boost to a researcher’s investigative path” and says the status signals NIH recognition of “the strong work, quality and innovativeness of Syracuse University researchers.”

Oliverio studies how microscopic organisms—bacteria and other microbes—interact with each other and their environment, and what those interactions mean for larger ecosystems. Her team is working to is working to in a given environment, how microbial communities shift as conditions change and how the work microbes do in nature may be affected by climate change and other global pressures.

Sukenik’s research centers on how proteins, the molecules that power human cells, behave in different chemical environments both inside and outside the cell, and what happens when that behavior goes wrong in disease. His lab uses live cell imaging, large-scale experiments and computational modeling to study and how a particular class of highly flexible proteins that don’t hold a fixed shape contribute to both healthy cell function and disease.

This year’s awards follow three made to Syracuse University faculty in 2025. Those recipients were , assistant professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the ; associate professor of biology, A&S and , associate professor of biology and chemistry in A&S.

No classroom lecture can replicate the experience of being face-to-face with the evidence of genocide. That’s the premise behind a School of Education (SOE) immersion course that brings students to Washington, D.C., to view historical records, talk with experts in human rights law and policy and worldwide atrocities issues, and experience the visual weight of bearing witness to atrocity crimes.

is a one-week, intense examination of those topics. It is both a standalone experiential inquiry excursion and a component of the SOE interdisciplinary minor, .

The course is open to any undergraduate and is led by G’03 G’07, SOE associate professor, scholar in human rights and current secretary of the . It also includes extensive advance readings, a pre- and a post-trip online class and attendance at the , which is supported by SOE alumni Lauri M. Zell ’77 and Jeffrey M. Zell ’77, who also underwrite the D.C. trip.

Multiple Dimensions

Pre-trip, students read about active international court cases, global justice mechanisms and U.S. foreign policy on atrocity prevention. Then, over six days in D.C., they met experts on human rights law and issues, including representatives of the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, Disability Rights International, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, the Syria Justice Accountability Centre, No Business with Genocide, the Simon-Skjodt Center for Genocide Prevention, the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice and former officials of the U.S. Department of State Office of Global Criminal Justice.

They also toured the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, the U.S. Supreme Court  and the Library of Congress. (VPA) alumna and artist ’81 hosted the group for dinner at her D.C. home and an exhibition of her work around human rights, displacement and the refugee crisis.

At Ground Level

SOE inclusive adolescent education and history major Elijah Burke ’27 calls the experience “one of the most formative weeks of my academic career,” providing “a ground-level understanding of this work unlike what I could learn in a classroom. It clarified the direction I want to take toward documentation, education, and advocacy in the international human rights space.”

Hailey Vanish ’27, a social work (SOE) and psychology major in the (A&S), says the immersion “reshaped how I view my studies and the world by emphasizing the importance of awareness, accountability and global engagement.”

Alexa Price ’28, a political science major, came to understand “not only how atrocities around the world start, but how the U.S. chooses to involve itself … the possibility of human rights work … and a glimmer of hope for a peaceful future.”

Initial Unawareness

Students are often initially unaware of historical atrocities and may not recognize how current events contribute to the potential for atrocities to occur, White says.

“Students are consistently surprised by how much they don’t know about what happened, why it happened, what the aftermath looks like, what reconciliation looks like, and the risk factors that lead individuals to commit atrocities,” White says. “They don’t know because we don’t teach human rights education in this country.”

White says that by participating in the immersion, the students are “really bearing witness to the Holocaust, antisemitism and human rights violations, and becoming aware of what companies do business with countries that are carrying out atrocities, and [recognizing] that they have an obligation not to be silent about these things anymore. It is my hope they come back with the tools to engage with these issues beyond the classroom. This will mean asking harder questions of themselves, their families and friends and their communities … and holding people and institutions accountable and understanding that awareness is meaningless without action.”

Hard, But Rewarding

Facing the intense subject matter head-on is genuinely hard to deal with but also deeply rewarding, White says, and students are fully engaged regarding the information they’ve taken in.

“They talk about this as an amazing trip, how it’s horrible but also kind of invigorating because this is not an abstract idea anymore,” White says. “They are learning from the people who are doing the work and realizing atrocities don’t happen in a vacuum, that there are real, material consequences of decisions that governments and policy makers make. They see that you can do something about this and they’ve been shown ways to participate in atrocity prevention.”

A&S mathematics major Leo Chen ’26 says what he saw at the Holocaust Museum hit home. “Despite being heavy, it serves as an everlasting remembrance of all the lives lost and a forever reminder to future generations of one of the darkest chapters in human history, so that we must do better.”

Those factors also resonated with Destiny Katsitsatekanoniahkwa Lazore Whitebean ’26, a dual major in communication and rhetorical studies in VPA and political science in the Maxwell School | A&S, renewing her long-standing question: “If we recognize the warning signs of genocide happening today but feel powerless or hopeless, what actions can individuals or communities take to help prevent mass atrocities?” She says the week “helped me see the many opportunities to get involved and make a difference.”

Aiden Boyer ’28, a broadcast and digital journalism major in the , says he hopes many more people are able to access the immersion, calling it “a rare opportunity, a program that is a standout in this field.”

As a Minor

The 18-credit provides a more extensive interdisciplinary look at international law, genocide crimes and social justice and human rights issues. Its overall goal is to create awareness of those issues so students can learn how to be responsible citizens in a democratic society.

Syracuse University undergraduates are getting their moment to shine this spring, presenting original research and creative work to peers, faculty and the broader campus community across a series of symposia and showcase events running through the end of the semester.

“For a researcher, learning how to effectively present their work is a crucial part of the research process. Whether a student is sharing a completed project with conclusions, or a work-in-progress still in development, the dialogue and conversation with a broader audience is always clarifying,” says Kate Hanson, director of the (SOURCE). “Our undergraduates do incredible research, guided by dedicated faculty mentors, and our campus community is warmly welcomed to engage with and celebrate this work.”

The SOURCE Spring Showcase includes the following:

Thursday, March 26

Lundgren Room, 106 Life Sciences Complex, 4-6 p.m.
The event will feature four “TED-style” student research talks and a presentation of SOURCE and Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA) awards.

Friday, March 27

Life Sciences Complex Atrium, 2-4 p.m.
This interdisciplinary event will feature more than 100 students presenting research and creative activity.

The entire campus community is invited to attend the events.

A complete list of programs in March, April and May with event and registration details can be found on (check back for updated information).

Other symposia and research-related events this spring include:

• , Wednesday, March 25, 9 a.m.-2:45 p.m., Goldstein Auditorium, Schine Student Center
• , Saturday, March 28, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Life Sciences Complex Atrium
• , Friday, April 3, 9:45 a.m.-4:45 p.m., 608 Bird Library
• , Friday, April 10, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Collegian Hotel and Suites, 1060 E. Genesee St.
• , Thursday, April 16, 8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m., Nancy Cantor Warehouse, Auditorium, Room 100A
• , Friday, April 17, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Milton Atrium, Life Sciences Complex
• , Friday, April 17, 10 a.m., 101 Newhouse 1
• , Tuesday, April 28, 3-5 p.m., 220 Eggers Hall
• , Wednesday, April 29, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Hall of Languages, multiple locations (complete schedule will be available on the after April 8)

On Aug. 8, 2023, the town of , in West Maui, Hawaii, was consumed by one of the in U.S. history. The result: more than 2,000 acres burned, 12,000 residents displaced and 102 people killed. Despite the devastation and ongoing community grief, Hawaii’s governor West Maui to tourists just two months later.

That decision sparked significant controversy and spurred thousands of residents and Native Hawaiians to political action. They wanted fire victims to have more time to grieve their loved ones, secure new housing and heal as a community.

For Sophia Hiatt, a senior in the , the disaster was the catalyst for a year of scholarly inquiry and the subject of her political science distinction thesis. As a multiracial person of Native Hawaiian heritage, Hiatt has long been interested in Hawaiian politics and perspectives—an interest solidified through a Tufts University summer high school program to develop leadership skills for social change. She focused on the Native Hawaiian community and , she says.

“This [thesis] project was far more than simply another academic requirement. It was a meaningful and introspective experience that allowed me to reconnect with the history, culture and people who mean so much to me. Local and Native voices are too often absent from public discourse, and I felt a responsibility to ensure that the voices of community members are recognized and credited for their work,” Hiatt says.

Her research included analyzing the grassroots organization ’s Instagram posts, critically comparing its strategies to two other Hawaiian land-based movements, determining how it amassed 21,000 followers and assessing how it conducted voter education and registration drives. She examined how the group helped pass land-use regulation bills that opened housing for displaced fire victims, aiding community members to maintain island residency. She also interviewed group founder Jordan Ruidas.

SOURCE Support

Supported by the (SOURCE), Hiatt took her research further. She traveled to Maui to gauge the destruction and witness the organization’s impact firsthand, and attended the , a community holiday market held at the site of a Buddhist temple destroyed by the fires.

The opportunity to conduct on-the-ground inquiry in Maui and to see the impact of the fires was transformative, Hiatt says. “Being present at the market—the actual site of so much loss and resilience—gave the research a depth and texture that no amount of reading could provide.”

Mentors and Guides

Hiatt says she approached the project “with deep humility, mindful of the lives lost and the real people who are not only living with the consequences of this disaster but are also using this moment to reshape the political and social dynamics of their community.”

She credits thesis advisor , professor of political science; , assistant professor of political science; and , who leads the school’s Political Science Distinction Thesis Seminar with helping her hone analytical and critical thinking skills, build confidence in academic spaces and develop stronger scholarly writing practices. “Their mentorship has been invaluable,” Hiatt says. “It has pushed me to approach complex questions with more rigor and more care.”

Hiatt would like to see her research published in an undergraduate research journal in hopes of inspiring other students to learn of ����󲹾�����’s post-fire political landscape and perhaps continue the research.

She also believes the lessons she’s learned this past year will carry forward into her career. After Commencement, she plans to work full time in compliance at Fidelity Investments before applying to law school in the future. “My commitment to institutional accountability and transparency ultimately connects both my thesis research and my future professional goals,” she says.

For Syracuse University senior , research isn’t confined to a laboratory. She’s taking her work directly into the community—hosting events, screening participants and listening closely to people who have long been underserved by the health care system.

Weltman, a dual major in communication sciences and disorders (CSD) and neuroscience with a minor in psychology in the (A&S), is conducting research in the under the mentorship of , A&S assistant professor of CSD.

Pei, a certified speech-language pathologist, researches ways to maximize cognitive-communication rehabilitation outcomes for individuals with traumatic brain injuries and how health communication discrimination affects their health care access and recovery.

Pei and Weltman are working in the project, “Integrating Culturally Adapted Principles in Cognitive Communication Rehabilitation,” which addresses a critical gap in speech-language pathology: the absence of culturally tailored care.

“The long-term goal of this research study is to improve speech-language pathologist therapy participation and outcomes for all clients, regardless of their backgrounds, thereby ensuring consistent healthcare delivery to all,” Weltman says.

Community Research Model

To gather insights, the research team uses a community-based model, hosting engagement events at locations such as the Westcott Community Center, Mckinley- Brighton Elementary School, Cicero Community Center, Interfaith Works of CNY and the Jewish Community Center of Syracuse. Participants come from local nursing homes, YMCAs, elementary school programs and other local groups that support community centers and senior companion programs. The events include presentations on healthy aging that feature games and prizes, free cognitive screenings and opportunities to participate in surveys and interviews. Weltman then analyzes those findings and connects them to the psychotherapy adaptation and modification framework—a systematic guide used to customize standard psychological treatments to fit a client’s specific personal background.

Learning New Skills

The work has pushed Weltman to develop skills that span clinical science, data analysis and community organizing. She has learned to code interviews, extract and analyze data, develop surveys and create clinical manuals, and says these technical competencies will serve her well in her future career as a speech-language pathologist specializing in neurogenic communication disorders.

Just as important, she has learned to see the broader landscape of how health care reaches and serves all patients. She says that work has allowed her to identify specific barriers to health care and learn how to recognize how personal nuances affect speech-language therapy.

Weltman’s research is already reaching beyond Syracuse’s campus. She is preparing to submit a proposal to , a significant milestone for an undergraduate researcher.

She credits her faculty mentor with making that trajectory possible. Weltman has worked with Pei since her sophomore year and says the relationship fundamentally shaped her academic and professional path.

“From my very first assigned task, Dr. Pei has believed in my potential and supported me every step of the way,” Weltman says. “Without her and the lab, I would have never concentrated on the field of cognitive communication, which has inspired my future career.”

The (SOURCE) has also been instrumental in her work, Weltman says. SOURCE is where she first learned about the range of available to undergraduates.  The office provided research project components, including a received this past year. In addition, SOURCE support such as and programming including orientations, workshops and check-in meetings, have underpinned her ongoing success, she says.

For Weltman, the research is ultimately about more than data or frameworks—it is about making sure every patient, regardless of background, has a real chance at recovery.