When students check their .syr email, they can often find their inboxes flooded with generic listserv memos and event promotions.

However, this semester they’ve been receiving weekly updates from someone new: Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud.

Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs at SU, said in an email the chancellor originally decided he would send out emails to students sometime in the fall after he was appointed chancellor.

He said Syverud had always planned to do a regular series of messages, saying the chancellor’s goal is to connect directly with students, faculty and staff, and “keep them informed about his activities and sharing what he is learning about the university.”

Former SU chancellor Kenneth “Buzz” Shaw said he’s met with Syverud several times.

“I’m extremely impressed with his intelligence and concern for Syracuse’s mission and particularly his students,” Shaw said.

David Rubin, Dean Emeritus of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, who has worked under former chancellors Shaw, Nancy Cantor and Melvin Eggers, said the emails are beautifully written, specific and clear. He added that the letters are fun to read and not in the “academic, chancellor-speak.”

“They’re written as if they were for me only, although of course they are not,” he said. “I’m very impressed.”

In many cases, students have been impressed as well.

Susan Cho, a junior communications and rhetorical studies major, said she thinks the chancellor emailing students shows he’s making an effort to be involved in the student community.

“I didn’t know much about Chancellor Cantor, so this seems like a good way to kind of get to know the new chancellor,” she said.

Cho said she hadn’t personally seen the chancellor around campus, but many of her friends had — something she hadn’t heard happened with Cantor.

Rubin Kim, a senior supply chain management major, said while she isn’t sure if everyone reads all the way through each weekly email from the chancellor, she thinks the chancellor should continue sending emails whenever he needs to share something important.

While some of the emails can be a little long, Andy Shin, a junior aerospace engineering major, said he thinks it’s a positive sign that Syverud wants to be a part of the campus community.

“He’s a new guy on campus and I think it’s good that he’s sharing his observations and what he’s going through as the new chancellor,” Shin said.

Shin added it’s encouraging that Syverud is making efforts to reach out — like he does in the emails — saying it shows he cares about making SU a better school.

Rubin said he thinks Syverud is sending these emails out to introduce himself to the SU community so people can get a sense of who the chancellor is and what issues matter to him.

“He can’t meet everybody, so this is a way to touch everybody at least,” Rubin said.

Quinn said as a member of university senior management, he thinks Syverud’s messages are a great idea and have been well received.

He added that other members of the SU community feel the same way.

Said Quinn: “I have heard only positive things about them from many people at the university.”

Asst. News Editor Ellen Meyers contributed reporting to this article.

Published on February 10, 2014 at 1:30 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27