Elizabeth Garrett, a lawyer and scholar who was the first woman to be president of Cornell University, died on Sunday at her home in Manhattan, only eight months after starting the post. She was 52.

The cause was colon cancer, the university said.

In her short time as president, Ms. Garrett spearheaded an effort to group Cornell’s three accredited business programs into a College of Business. She had succeeded David J. Skorton, who stepped down to head the Smithsonian Institution.

Ms. Garrett announced on Feb. 8 that she recently learned she had colon cancer and that she would undergo aggressive treatment. The university’s provost, Michael Kotlikoff, was later named acting president.

Ms. Garrett was previously the provost at the University of Southern California from 2010 until 2014. She was also the first woman to hold that job.