University of Oregon president Michael Gottfredson announced his resignation on Wednesday afternoon.
In a letter to the university’s Board of Trustees, Gottfredson said his desire to return to academia, where he is a professor of criminology, is the reason he’s calling it quits after two years running the UO. He also says he wants to spend more time with his family, though his contract would have allowed him to serve as president until June 30, 2016.
“Today it is with mixed emotions that I announce my decision to depart the UO as President and pursue other opportunities in academia,” Gottfredson said in his message. “…My scholarly interests beckon and Karol and I are eager to spend more time with our family. With our outstanding campus leadership and new strategic planning underway, it is appropriate for a new president to continue the legacy of this great University.”
Gottfredson’s time at the helm has seen an NCAA investigation into the university’s football program, the installation of the Board of Trustees itself and the faculty form its first union, United Academics, and negotiate its first contract. Gottfredson was the university’s 17th president.
The chair of the Board of Trustees, Chuck Lillis, also issued a statement.
“The challenges before [Gottfredson] and the University were no small feat- but he successfully concluded the NCAA issue, worked and repaired relationships with the other University presidents, Governor and State Legislature to establish a new system of higher education governance for Oregon, including institutional boards, and negotiated a fair labor contract with the faculty union,” Lillis said in the statement. “Despite the competing challenges, President Gottfredson never lost sight of the mission of the University of Oregon and continued to push to move the UO toward even greater academic excellence.”
The Board of Trustees officially went into effect July 7 of this year and will be in charge of hiring Gottfredson’s successor. The board meets next on Thursday, August 7.
Gottfredson, 63, was hired by the Oregon Board of Higher Education and started August 1, 2012 after the board fired his predecessor, Richard Lariviere. Before coming to Oregon, Gottfredson was vice chancellor and provost at the University of California at Irvine, and was a professor of Criminology, Law and Society.
During his first year as president, Gottfredson handled the NCAA investigation into the Oregon football team’s recruiting practices, which resulted in the program being put on probation.
The formation of the Board of Trustees is perhaps the biggest change during his time as president. Gottfredson played a key role in loosening the authority the Oregon University System had over the university by pushing for Oregon to have its own governing body to set tuition rates and order construction on campus. Now, UO, Oregon State University and Portland State University are all run by their own boards of trustees.
Most recently, Gottfredson formed a panel to review how the university prevents and responds to reported sexual misconduct, which came on the heels of a sexual assault scandal within Oregon’s men’s basketball team. Johnson Hall, the building his office is located, was the site of protests during the spring term for both its transparency in handling the sexual assault cases as well as demonstrations by the union representing Graduate Teaching Fellows at the school and currently bargaining with the administration over its next contract.
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