University of Florida President To Retire in 2013

University of Florida President Bernie Machen said Friday that he plans to retire sometime in 2013.

Machen, 68, made the announcement at the UF Board of Trustees meeting in Gainesville, and the university followed up with a news release. He took office as UF's 11th president in January 2004.

Chairman David Brown said the board would begin a search for the next president this summer. Machen said he expects to stay until UF secures his replacement and did not announce a specific date for leaving office next year. He will stay on as a professor at the university.

"This has been the most exciting and productive period of my career, and I feel we have everything in place for a great future," Machen said. "There is a time for everything, and I will be excited to move on to the next phase of my life when the university is ready for a smooth transition."

Machen replaced Charles Young, who was president from 1999-2003. Under Machen's leadership, UF expanded its campus and its research and innovation enterprises. It now has nearly 50,000 students.

"I will have served as president for almost 10 years, and I have been fortunate to work with many exceptionally smart and dedicated faculty, staff and students," Machen wrote in a letter to the UF community. "Amid a very difficult period for higher education, we have built a stronger, more dynamic, more forward-thinking university."

Machen came to Gainesville from Salt Lake City, where he served for six years as president of the University of Utah. Prior to that he was provost of the University of Michigan and held administrative positions in the dental schools at Michigan and the University of North Carolina.