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FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — University of Alaska Fairbanks Chancellor Brian Rogers said he plans to retire at the end of August after six years on the job.
In announcing his retirement Thursday, Rogers cited a stress on his health caused in part by severe budget cuts the university is facing as the state struggles with multibillion-dollar deficit, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper (http://is.gd/yJJBU0 ) reported.
Rogers earlier voiced his interest in becoming president of the University of Alaska system. Current president Pat Gamble is retiring later this year.
The 64-year-old Rogers is a former state legislator who became acting chancellor in April 2008 and became chancellor outright in May 2009.
Gamble said Thursday he is saddened by Rogers' departure. He called Rogers a friend and one of his right-hand people in the UA system.
"I think we all actually have kind of got our heads down this afternoon because this is just a great loss," Gamble said. "He is a great chancellor. He has done some amazing things in the seven years he has been there."
Jo Heckman, president of the University of Alaska Board of Regents, said high stress in the university system was evident last week at the Regents' meeting in Bethel. That's where the board heard reports from UAF and other chancellors on the status of their program reviews.
"It is palpable," she said. "You look at their faces and see how stressful this situation is: What to cut, what to keep."
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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com
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