Past Presidents

Henry C. “Hank” Foley, Ph.D.

Henry C. “Hank” Foley, Ph.D., served as the fourth president of New York Tech for eight years (2017-2025). His tenure was defined by a firm commitment to delivering exceptional outcomes for all students. Central to this mission was his belief that the student experience must be at the heart of everything—from academic instruction to student services, from the classroom to the bursar’s office. 

As the University of Missouri’s (MU) interim chancellor, Foley led the university through a very challenging period of unrest, change, and, ultimately, real progress toward inclusion and equity. Before being appointed interim chancellor in November 2015, he joined the MU system in 2013 as executive vice president for academic affairs, where he was tasked with strengthening the academic quality of each of the four universities, increasing the size of the research enterprise, and cultivating more technology transfer to the market. 

At Penn State, Foley served as department head of chemical engineering, associate vice president for research, dean of the College of Information Sciences and Technology, and vice president for research and dean of the graduate school. In addition, he has held faculty appointments in chemical engineering and chemistry at MU, Penn State, and the University of Delaware.

Foley holds a bachelor’s degree from Providence College, a master’s degree from Purdue University, and a doctorate from Penn State, all in chemistry. An accomplished researcher who has dedicated more than 30 years toward advancing the study of nanotechnology, he holds 16 patents, has written more than 150 articles and a textbook, the second edition of which appeared in June 2021. In addition, Foley has mentored nearly 50 graduate and undergraduate thesis students, as well as post-doctoral fellows.

Edward Guiliano, Ph.D.

Edward Guiliano, Ph.D., served as New York Institute of Technology’s third president from 2000 to 2017. He joined the university in 1974 and was the youngest person at the university to be promoted through the ranks to full professor. He served as vice president of academic affairs in 1996 and two years later took on additional responsibilities as provost. Guiliano holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a doctorate from Stony Brook University.

During his presidency, he helped shape the concept of “the global university,” a model has defined the transformation and rebranding of New York Institute of Technology from a regional university into an international institute of higher learning, with campuses in New York, Arkansas, Abu Dhabi, China, and Vancouver, in addition to international partnerships with schools in Taiwan, Brazil, France, Turkey, and China. His leadership has resulted in improving both the quality of the university’s academic programs and its reputation domestically and globally, as evidenced by its many accreditations and its steady improvement in rankings, including US News & World Report and Payscale’s ROI survey, among others.

In addition, Guiliano also oversaw the large-scale expansion of New York Tech’s campuses in New York City and Long Island, which included several high-tech learning and athletic facilities as well as the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway near Lincoln Center and Columbus Circle. In honor of his dedication, the main building on the New York City campus, at 1855 Broadway, was named the Edward Guiliano Global Center in 2012.

He is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world and op-ed author on topics that include Big Data, energy and sustainability, global higher education, cybersecurity, and instructional technology. A scholar of Victorian literature, Guiliano is the author and editor of eight books and more than 150 articles. He is a founding member of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America and a former president of the society. Guiliano is married to best-selling author Mireille Guiliano.

Matthew Schure, Ph.D.

Matthew Schure, Ph.D., served as New York Tech’s president from 1982 to 2000. During his tenure, the university expanded to include a Central Islip, N.Y., campus in 1984 and its first international program in China in 1998. Carrying on his father’s legacy of using instructional technology to expand the university’s outreach and career-oriented academic programs, Schure oversaw the launch of LI News Tonight, a student-run cable news program; American Open University, the university’s first virtual campus; the Carleton Group, a student-run advertising agency; and NYITCOM’s first clinical campus at St. Barnabas Hospital.

During his presidency, New York Tech reached several other milestones—the Bears scored the first of their four NCAA Division II men’s lacrosse national championships; NYITCOM opened the Adele Smithers Parkinson’s Disease Center; and U.S. News & World Report ranked the university among the nation’s leading institutions of higher learning.

From 2001 to 2014, Schure served as president of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Queens College (CUNY), as well as two master’s degrees and a doctorate from Columbia University.

Alexander Schure, Ph.D.

Alexander Schure (1920-2009) founded New York Tech in 1955 and served as its first president until 1982, then as chancellor until 1991. He helped formulate the university’s mission of providing career-oriented, professional education; access to opportunity for all qualified students; and application-based research that benefits the entire world. Under his leadership, New York Tech grew from a single campus in New York City into a multi-campus university with locations near Columbus Circle in Manhattan and along Long’s Island Gold Coast in Old Westbury, N.Y.

Schure’s achievements at NYIT included the formation of New York Tech’s Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL) in 1974, which pioneered several of the earliest breakthroughs in computer graphics and animation. Among these is one of the first computer-animated films, Tubby the Tuba, under the direction of Schure and Pixar co-founders Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith.

During his presidency, Schure also helped launch NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) in 1977, New York’s first osteopathic medical school, with cooperation from Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller and W. Kenneth Riland, D.O. Today, NYITCOM is one of the largest medical schools in the United States.

Schure received a bachelor’s degree from the City College of New York and a master’s degree and two doctorates from New York University. He was also the recipient of numerous awards, including 17 honorary doctoral degrees.