CUNY has tapped the president of the University of Nebraska — an NYU alum and former Wall Street attorney — to be its next chancellor.
The board of trustees on Wednesday approved the hiring of James Milliken, head of the Lincoln, Neb., campus since 2004, to take the seat kept warm by interim chancellor William Kelly following Matthew Goldstein’s retirement in June.
Kelly had been considered a top candidate for the spot that Milliken was awarded.
Milliken, an NYU Law School grad, had made no secrets to his Nebraska colleagues that he was looking for a new job in a bigger, urban setting.
He met his wife Nana, also a lawyer, in New York where they both worked at the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, according to their 1989 wedding announcement.
Milliken even told The Daily Nebraskan newspaper in 2007 that he’d probably be working as a Big Apple lawyer if he didn’t hold the Lincoln post.
“I’ve forgotten what it’s like [to be a lawyer],” he told the paper. “Now I’m just a demanding client.”
In that same 2007 interview, it appeared Milliken had an eye toward the future.
“[As president] you have an opportunity, for a brief time, to have a significant impact on the lives of people in Nebraska,” he said.
The 56-year-old Milliken, a native of Fremont, Neb., was the senior VP at the University of North Carolina before scoring the Cornhusker gig.
The terms of Milliken’s hire were not immediately disclosed.
His predecessor, Goldstein, made $490,000 a year in addition to a $90,000 annual housing allowance.
Goldstein — who holds the title chancellor emeritus — will be around campus if Milliken has any questions; he’s agreed to teach graduate -level math and help with fundraising and other special projects – all at a handsome price. He’ll make the same $490,000 salary for a year and then earn $300,000 annually for the next five years.
Goldstein served as CUNY’s chancellor for 14 years.
Additional reporting by Susan Edelman