CANTON -- State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher says she is recommending recommend Dr. Zvi Szafran of Southern Polytechnic State University in Georgia to be appointed as president of SUNY Canton.

Dr. Szafran is the vice president for academic affairs at SPSU.

The SUNY Board of Trustees will consider Szafran’s appointment at its next meeting, scheduled for Thursday, April 3.

Zimpher says Szafran is “an ideal candidate to be SUNY Canton’s next president. “Throughout his career, Dr. Szafran has developed a keen sense for the needs of students and an ability to enhance academic programs and services to meet those needs. Having served for nearly a decade as a member of the leadership team at a technology college within a state system of higher education, Dr. Szafran’s experience and vision align well SUNY Canton’s mission as well as SUNY’s strategic priorities. I look forward to working with him.”

“I’m very excited about SUNY Canton’s future,” said Dr. Szafran. “Their career-driven, hands-on mission is critical to America’s and New York’s growth, and they have an excellent strategic plan. I look forward to helping them to achieve the success they deserve.”

Chancellor Zimpher says she is grateful to Dr. Joseph Hoffman for his leadership of SUNY Canton since June of last year. The college has been without a permanent president since Joseph Kennedy stepped down from the post in 2012, following a 19-year tenure.

Hoffman replaced Interim SUNY Canton President Carli C. Schiffner, Kennedy’s former chief of staff and then provost and vice president for academic affairs, after Kennedy stepped down.

“We are so pleased that Dr. Szafran will be joining the SUNY Canton family,” said Hoffman. “We were very impressed by his experience and insight during his campus visit, and it is clear that he is the right choice to continue the college’s forward momentum.”

Ronald O’Neill, chair of the SUNY Canton College Council and chair of the Presidential Search Committee, said of Szafran, “His background, experience, and leadership are perfectly suited to our campus. All of us at the college look forward to his arrival and to working together with Dr. Szafran.”

In addition to his current role as vice president for academic affairs at the Gorgia technical school, he is a professor of chemistry. From 1998 to 2005, he was vice president for academic affairs at New England College in New Hampshire. Before that, he held several positions at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, including dean of science and engineering, chairman of the chemistry department, assistant to the dean of arts and sciences, and professor.

Dr. Szafran earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor’s degree, also in chemistry, from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.