Charismatic televangelist Pat Robertson plans to retire as president of the university he founded, according to an announcement Tuesday.Robertson informed Regent University’s Board of Trustees that he plans to retire effective July 1, 2010, but that he will continue to serve as the university’s chancellor and member of the board.
"Serving as Regent University's president has been an honor and a joy," said Robertson, who also had a hand in the founding of several other organizations , including the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), and the Christian Coalition.
"The accomplishments of our faculty, staff, students and alumni are truly remarkable and I am so delighted by the achievements of our rapidly growing school,” he added. “As chancellor and a trustee, I will now focus on helping guide the university toward the next level of strategic growth and the implementation of our master plan."
Robertson’s announcement comes as more leaders from his generation are stepping down or stepping aside and making room for the next generation to step in and step up.
In February, conservative evangelical leader James Dobson resigned as chairman of Focus on the Family, and just this month, the historic megachurch of the late D. James Kennedy installed the Rev. Tullian Tchividjian as its second minister in five decades.
Robertson, furthermore, had already announced in 2007 that he was passing on his duties as chief executive officer of the Christian Broadcasting Network to his son, Gordon.
"It was important to pass down the line especially to somebody a little bit more adept at figuring out the new technologies coming at such a bewildering speed to all of us," Robertson had said. According to the announcement Tuesday, Regent’s Board of Trustees has appointed a search committee that will name a new president, who is expected to join the university no later than fall 2010.
Amid the search, Robertson will oversee a new campus master plan that he developed for Regent, with specific attention to the continued growth of the university's undergraduate and graduate online and on-campus programs, and the university's overall global impact.
"Our mission remains steadfast: to train Christian leaders who serve with excellence in every area of their lives. I have seen that excellence firsthand and I know that we have only just begun to see the fruits of our labor," he said.
Robertson founded Regent in 1978 and became its sixth president in 2000. In 2008, the Chronicle of Higher Education's survey of Great Colleges to Work For ranked Regent among the top five small colleges to work for in several categories.
[By Aaron J. Leichman - Christian Post Reporter]
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