State University of New York Chancellor Jim Malatras on Friday signaled he expects to remain the leader of the public college and university system and will work with incoming Gov. Kathy Hochul "for many months and years to come." 

"I'm happy to be the chancellor of the State University of New York, there's lots of work to be done," he told Spectrum News 1 reporter Olivia Leach. 

Malatras is a longtime advisor to outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is resigning Aug. 24 following a bombshell report that found 11 women who have accused him of sexual harassment are credible. Malatras in a letter sent to SUNY campus leadership blasted and condemned Cuomo's conduct. 

Malatras was also among the officials who had helped Cuomo write his book about the COVID-19 pandemic. He has previously said that doing so was on a voluntary basis and done on weekend time.

Meanwhile, Malatras on Friday praised Hochul and her approach to public higher education. 

"I think Governor Hochul has been a fantastic leader for the State University of New York in particular," he said. "She was just with our college presidents yesterday and it was a breath of fresh air. She gets the mission of public higher education, she gets that we are the backbone of the workforce development needs of New York state to fill those skills gap."

There are steep challenges facing the university system, including a return to campus for students, faculty and staff amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant of COVID-19.  

"I'd like the vaccine mandate to happen yesterday. The state of new york put in a restriction that we couldn't enforce the vaccine mandate until it was fully approved by the FDA, so we hope that FDA approval comes really quickly," Malatras said. "But we were one of the first large systems or municipality to require vaccine or testing protocol, what many communities are doing."