Karen R. Hitchcock

[2] After her sudden departure from Queen's University, she returned, with husband Murray Blair, to the Albany, New York, area to live in Vischer Ferry.

[3] As a Postdoctoral Fellow, she did work in pulmonary cell biology at The Webb-Waring Institute for Medical Research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

During that time, she brought to fruition the formation of the university's College of Arts and Sciences; oversaw the university's sesquicentennial celebration; implemented a substantial revision of the campus's General Education Program; developed an enrollment management plan across all academic units; created a "Presidential Scholars" program at the undergraduate level and founded the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

[4] Under her leadership from 1996 to 2003, the university expanded the possibilities of its educational mission among networks associated with its growing cadre of regional, state, national, and global partners.

[4] In October 2003, the Albany Times Union reported that tensions between Hitchcock and the SUNY Chancellor had crested, leaving her future with the University uncertain.

Media speculation around those failed candidacies[8][9] centered on the SUNY Chancellor's wresting of the highly touted Sematech North[10] from Hitchcock's control.

On February 25, 2005, the New York Times reported that Hitchcock faced a state ethics inquiry about allegations that she had offered to deliver a multimillion-dollar non-competitive student housing construction contract to a hand-selected developer.

This program was paid for by the SUNY Albany Foundation, using gifts intended for the students and faculty of the university, until Dr. Hitchcock's abrupt departure from that campus.

It was to be the largest project undertaken by a Canadian university to that time, encompassing expanded and upgraded sports facilities, a student life centre and a new academic building.

Soon after Hitchcock arrived at Queen's University, she began taking extended leaves of absence, ostensibly to tend to her husband, Murray Blair, who by that time required the use of a wheelchair.

She was also criticized by donors, alumni, faculty and community leaders for the growing financial crisis surrounding the lavish Queen's Centre project, which was already some $38 million (nearly 20%) over budget only 14 months after it began its 10-year construction.