Yale University President Richard Levin Stepping Down After 20 Years

Yale University President Richard C. Levin has announced he will be stepping down at the end of the academic year, following a 20 year term at the Ivy League school.

President Levin announced the decision on Thursday, reports The Washington Post. With his tenure, he has now served longer than any other president currently in the Ivy League or the 61-member Association of American Universities.

Levin, 65, also announced that he plans to take a sabbatical in order to write a book. The Yale President is credited for leading the school’s largest building and renovation program since the 1930s.

He also expanded the University’s financial aid programs and international activities, helping to improve Yale’s historically difficult relationship with its unions and building partnerships with New Haven.

Yale officials also noted that their endowment rose from $3.2 billion when Levin was named president in 1993 to $19.4 billion this year. They added that the President has helped to raise more than $7 billion during his tenure. Yale trustee Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo, stated:

“Rick Levin is simply one of the world’s great leaders. He has been transformational in envisioning how a university should be a leading citizen in its home community and he has boldly staked out how the leading universities should become global institutions. His example has been a guide for how universities around the world can have a much greater impact.”

The New York Times notes that, in his letter to the Yale community announcing his departure, Levin said that it is simply a “natural transition” after he has accomplished many of the institution’s goals. Levin wrote:

“These years have been more rewarding and fulfilling than I ever could have imagined.”

Richard Levin is not the first Ivy League University president to leave this year, as Jim Yong Kim, the former president of Dartmouth College, took his new job as the leader of the World Bank in July.