At the end of next June, university President Glenn Poshard will retire after eight and a half years at the helm.

Poshard announced his plans to retire Thursday at the SIU Board of Trustees retreat at Touch of Nature in Makanda. Poshard, along with other members of the board, remembered the accomplishments of the president and his time at the university and said they are looking forward to the future.

Poshard said he is retiring because he wants to focus on spending time with his family and pursuing other goals in his life. He said he thinks he has contributed enough to the university and thinks it is time to step down considering he will be almost 69-years-old by the time he retires June 30 next year.

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“I’ve had more than a 40-year affiliation with this university,” he said. “I have three degrees from here, I was a student worker here, I was a civil servant worker here, I was an adjunct professor. I have been vice chancellor for an administration. I served on the board as chairman and now president. So, I am the second longest serving president in the history of the Southern Illinois University system.”

Other members of the university staff are saddened by Poshard’s retirement.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Randal Thomas said he only worked with Poshard for short time, but learned a great deal from the president.

“We didn’t have a lot of time (working together), but he’s a quintessential professional in life and he’s focused. He’s articulate, very intelligent, very easy to work with, very honest and very helpful,” Thomas said. “I learned a lot from him about board processes right off the bat about the concepts of what higher education must look like in order to move forward successfully.”

Thomas said the timing of Poshard’s retirement is not unusual as the university is in good shape and Poshard will have served as president for eight and a half years, which is longer than most presidents serve. He said the board needs to discuss how to approach finding a new president and could begin to discuss a replacement as early as the September board meeting.

Poshard said he has made many fond memories of the university over the years. As a student at the university, he never imagined he would become the president, he said.

“If there is a fond moment that may rise above the others, it was when I became president of this university,” Poshard said. “It’s the greatest honor of my life.”

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The Daily Egyptian reached out to Chancellor Rita Cheng with a few phone calls for comment. Cheng’s office said she was traveling for business meetings and she was unable to be reached before press time Tuesday.