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Nancy L. Zimpher has served as President of the University of Cincinnati since 2003. In addition to her duties as president she is a professor of education. Prior to her service at the University of Cincinnati, Zimpher was a dean and professor of education at The Ohio State University (where she had earned her bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees), and then chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee between 1998 and 2003. She is UC's first female president and replaced Joseph A. Steger.

Since taking office, she has worked to eliminate the previous divisions among the colleges of UC (such as by creating a single university commencement) and has continuously championed UC|21, an academic plan that aims to define UC as a "new urban research university" for the 21st century. She is currently involved in a controversy surrounding the removal of Bob Huggins, the most successful basketball coach in the history of the University, after he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. (Former coach Huggins has since moved on to a 21 game winning season as coach at Kansas State.) The new coach, Mick Cronin, finished last in the Big East Conference. Dr. Zimpher has defended her actions in the name of improving the academic performance and graduation rate in the basketball program.

Dr. Zimpher is the co-author and co-editor of books on university leadership as well as books on teacher education and urban education. She also has authored and co-authored many monographs, book chapters, and academic journal articles related to academic leadership, school/university partnerships and teacher education, and in many instances her co-author has been her husband, Dr. Kenneth R. Howey, a research professor in education at UC. She often is sought after as a key participant at both national and international conferences, making numerous presentations for groups such as the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), American Educational Research Association (AERA), American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC) and the American Council on Education (ACE).

Currently, she serves as chair of the NASULGC Board of Directors and of a national network of presidents of Urban Serving Universities (USU). She also serves on the boards of ACE and the National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges. A past president of a national educational reform network, The Holmes Partnership, she has previously served on the Executive Board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, as key investigator in the eight-year Research About Teacher Education (RATE) Study, on the American Council on Education’s Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness Commission, on the Board of Directors of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, as chair of NASULGC’s Commission on International Programs and as Project Director for a U.S. Department of Education Teacher Quality Grant.

Dr. Zimpher participates on numerous state, regional, civic and community commissions and boards. Presently, she co-chairs the Ohio Board of Regents’ Articulation & Transfer Advisory Council, serves on the board of the Governor’s Ohio Partnership for Continued Learning and is a co-founder of a new coalition of higher education constituencies in Ohio called the Higher Education Leadership Coalition. She also serves on the Cincinnati Business Committee and co-chairs its Education Task Force; serves on the boards of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC), the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the United Way of Greater Cincinnati; and chairs the Uptown Consortium, a five-way partnership in neighborhood development adjacent to UC and the consortium partners.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s Chief Executive Leadership Award (2003); Ohio State University’s Alumni Association Professional Achievement Award; the Association of Teacher Educators’ Distinguished Research Award; the AACTE’s Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education; and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Distinguished Woman Scholar Award. In 1998, she was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, and she has been recognized with the YWCA’s Women of Achievement award in Columbus, Milwaukee and Cincinnati.

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• Official biography
• UC|21 official site