WIKIMEDIA, DASONNENFELDQuentin Wheeler, an entomologist and the president of SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), will leave his leadership post at the end of June. Wheeler had made controversial decisions as head of the college, including firing three department chairs in January, and the faculty has expressed displeasure with his actions.
“Opposition to initiatives focused on the financial, academic, and research foundations of the College have become a distraction to our students, faculty and staff, and the administration,” Wheeler said in a statement yesterday (March 21). “Because I am the face of the change represented by those initiatives, too much attention is being diverted from the necessary work of the College by my continued presence.”
Wheeler is the founding director of the International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE) at ESF and became president of the college in 2014. But faculty members, for the most part, disagreed with his hiring decisions and plans for the school’s finances. Back in 2016, a majority of faculty members expressed a lack of confidence in Wheeler’s leadership, and again this month ...
