At its board of governor’s meeting this week, Rutgers University confirmed an interim leader to succeed Nancy Cantor as chancellor in Newark.

A vote during the Feb. 19 meeting affirmed Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Jeffrey Robinson for the role, effective July 1.

Cantor’s decade-long tenure as chancellor of Rutgers-Newark ends with her second term June 30. Robinson was announced as interim leader in October 2023.

Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway revealed Cantor would not return to the chancellor post last August. The unexpected news of the revered leader’s exit caused an uproar in the state’s largest city.

In a letter to Holloway, Mayor Ras Baraka wrote that “To discard Chancellor Cantor is taking two steps backwards.”

“It disrupts a long and hard-fought progress that Newark is journeying on,” Baraka continued. “It flies in the face of the collective work that we have been doing many times with Chancellor Cantor’s insistence, her commitment and sheer will.”

At the time, Holloway said a national search would launch to find Cantor’s permanent replacement. In the meantime, Robinson will take the helm.

Named provost in 2022, Robinson is the co-founder of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. He also holds the Prudential Chair in Business and is a professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School.

According to Holloway’s October announcement, Robinson will hold the interim role for the 2024-25 academic year. He said the appointment would “provide an important bridge between Chancellor Cantor’s successful tenure and that of the next permanent chancellor.”

That search will take place during the interim year.

For her part, Cantor has her next gig lined up as well.

On Feb. 18, RU-N announced she will start as the next president of Hunter College in New York this upcoming August.