RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The first Black president of a university in Virginia’s capital city has announced that he will step down in 2022.
University of Richmond President Ronald A. Crutcher, 73, said in a statement Wednesday that he plans to leave the position in early 2022.
Crutcher gave the two-year window to allow the university to “have as much time as possible” to choose a successor, amid “great disruption and challenges” facing higher education, according to his statement.
He assumed the role in 2015 and signed on for a five-year term. In June, he accepted an invitation from the school’s Board of Trustees to continue serving as president but said he only intended to stay for two more years.
“I conveyed at the time that I felt an extension of no longer than two years would be desirable, helpful, and appropriate,” Crutcher said.
The university was set to form a search committee that would begin looking for the next president this fall, officials said. The university said it hopes to have a replacement in office by July 1, 2022.
Crutcher will return to the faculty as a university professor after a sabbatical.
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