SUNY Board of Trustees
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| Carl T. Hayden Chairman Elmira, NY |
Carl T. Hayden was appointed Chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees October 22, 2007.
Chancellor Emeritus Hayden was born April 1, 1941. He attended public schools in Marathon, Cortland County, New York, and was graduated from Marathon Central High School with honors in 1959 where he was president of the senior class. In 1963 he was graduated from Hamilton College where he was president of his fraternity. In 1970, he earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Cornell Law School where he was president of the Law Student Association.
Chancellor Emeritus Hayden served in the U.S. Navy from 1963-1967. He was a Gunnery Officer aboard USS Boston, a heavy cruiser, and a Legal Officer at the US Naval Station, Treasure Island, San Francisco, California.
Chancellor Emeritus Hayden and his wife, Cindy, reside in Elmira, where he practices law. They are parents of a daughter Ashley and two sons, Matthew and Timothy. Ashley is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Matthew graduated in 1996 from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and the Maine School of Law. Timothy graduated from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, and the Dickinson College of Law of Pennsylvania State University.
Chancellor Emeritus Hayden is a former president of the Elmira City School District Board of Education; He is a past chair or president of numerous community organizations. He was a founder and for six years president of the Mark Twain Arts Council, producer of the “Mark Twain-The Musical!,” a Broadway scale musical celebrating Mark Twain’s life and writings in Elmira. He is also a director of Panelogic, Inc., a private corporation.
Chancellor Emeritus Hayden was elected to the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York (USNY) in 1990. He was elected Chancellor by his colleagues on March 16, 1995, and re-elected to that office on March 9, 1998, and again on March 16, 2001. He stepped down on April 1, 2002, when, after twelve (12) years of service, his second term as Regent expired. He was thereupon voted Chancellor Emeritus by his colleagues.
During Chancellor Emeritus Hayden’s tenure as Chancellor, the Board of Regents began to travel the state, meeting three times a year at places other than Albany. Standards were raised for students, for schools, for entry into the teaching profession and for teacher preparation programs. School report cards were instituted. Failing schools were reorganized or closed. Tremendous emphasis was placed on closing the performance gap afflicting many poor and minority students. The Board of Trustees of Adelphi University was removed for malfeasance. Professional discipline became swifter and surer. More disabled New Yorkers than ever before found employment and independence. New York’s great cultural institutions, its libraries, museums, archives and public broadcasting, were strengthened. He left a reinvigorated and markedly more influential Board of Regents.
Chancellor Emeritus Hayden is former Chairman of the Board of the New York State Health Foundation. He co-chaired Governor Spitzer’s Education Transition Team. He chairs the Chemung County School Readiness Project. From 2003 to 2007, he was a director of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE).
Chancellor Emeritus Hayden was awarded honorary degrees by his alma mater, Hamilton College (1996), Elmira College (1999), the City University of New York (2002), and Excelsior College (2003). He is an honorary member of the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois.