American University President Neil Kerwin plans to step down when his contract expires in May 2017, he announced in a memo to the university community on Monday.
Kerwin, 66, said he informed the university's board of trustees of his decision after more than a decade at the helm of the Northwest D.C. university. Kerwin was appointed interim president in 2005 and was given the full-time job in 2007.
He is 14th president at American, a privately held university with 13,295 undergrad and graduate students enrolled last fall, and the first alumnus to hold the job.
“It has been my privilege to lead this extraordinary institution at an important time in its history,” said Kerwin said, whose total tenure at AU as a student, professor, dean of its school of public affairs and provost has stretched 42 years.
In the memo, Kerwin said the timing of the transition makes sense for the university because it coincides with the start of the final year of its strategic plan and the completion of the current phase of the campus renovation with the opening of new residence halls and academic facilities.
Kerwin said AU Board Chair Jack Cassell will give additional information about the search for his successor next week. Kerwin said he plans to take a sabbatical before returning to the faculty of AU. “I also will continue to engage in the ongoing and critical national dialogue on the future of higher education,” Kerwin said.
Kerwin said he will focus on the implementation of AU's strategic plan and recent initiatives, including improving diversity and inclusion on campus, and ensuring responsiveness to complaints of sexual assault. He said he will also guide the next budget cycle and the opening of facilities on the east side of campus.
Kerwin is credited with helping grow AU’s endowment from $272 million to $550 million. During his tenure, AU's credit ratings improved. Moody’s gave AU an A2 rating in 2005 and an A1 rating today, while Standard & Poor’s rated AU an A in 2005 and how rates it A+. AU’s position in the top 100 of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges has improved from 87 in 2005 to 72 in 2015.
Kerwin was honored as one of the Washington Business Journal's Most Admired CEOs of 2013.
