Andrew Hamilton will be stepping down as NYU’s president on June 30, 2023. After taking a sabbatical, he will join the College of Arts and Science as a professor in the chemistry department. His resignation will come after his eighth year in the role.

“I love being at NYU,” Hamilton wrote in an email to the university community on Wednesday, April 13. “Serving as your president has been an immense honor and I want to thank you all for your confidence in me and for the purposeful engagement with which we together have navigated these past years and their challenges.”

Hamilton joined NYU in 2016 as the university’s 16th president. He was previously the provost of Yale University from 2004 to 2008, where he had formerly served as the deputy provost for science and technology. He was also vice chancellor of Oxford University from 2009 to 2015. Before becoming an administrator, he was a chemistry professor at Yale, Princeton University and the University of Pittsburgh.

During his time as president, Hamilton oversaw an increase in research rankings, undergraduate application numbers and Pell grant recipients — while the cost of attendance decreased. Last semester, the university met 100% of demonstrated financial need for its first-year class, and in 2019, the medical school was the first in the country to become tuition-free. In the announcement, he also noted how the university received more than $4 billion in donations since 2015 and opened a new campus at the NYU Shanghai site in 2022.

Hamilton acknowledged the many challenges the university has faced in recent years — including COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, the fight for social and racial justice, and rising political polarization — but believes NYU students, faculty and staff have continued to grow more resilient. He said that in his 40-year career in higher education, the most challenging obstacle he faced was the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hamilton’s announcement comes alongside several other impending changes in university leadership. NYU provost Katherine Fleming, who will step down from her role to become the next president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust on Aug. 1. 

Michael Lindsey will become the new dean of the Silver School of Social Work starting July 1. Wendy Suzuki was chosen as the new dean of the College of Arts & Sciences on March 24 and will start in her new position on Sept. 1. Victoria Rosner was appointed dean of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study on April 4 and will start her term on July 15.

Aside from his time at NYU, Hamilton wrote that turning 70 and the birth of his fifth grandchild contributed to the timing of his resignation.

“NYU has been such a wonderful home for Jennie and me; we have greatly enjoyed our respective roles here and getting to know so many of you,” Hamilton wrote. “For that warm welcome we thank you and I especially thank you for giving me the honor to serve you as your president.”

In another email, board of trustees chair William Berkley said he will communicate plans of the search process for a new NYU president. A committee of trustees will lead the search with input from students, faculty and administrators.

“Although we are sorry to see Andy step down from the presidency, the Board and I fully understand and sympathize with his reasons; we are grateful for the devoted, exceptional service he has rendered; we appreciate his success in sustaining and accelerating NYU’s academic momentum; and we are thankful for his coming to us so far in advance in an effort to make the search for his successor more smooth and orderly,” Berkley wrote on April 13. 

Contact Kristian Burt at [email protected] and Abby Wilson at [email protected].