The president of the University of Texas at Austin will step down at the end of June, the university announced Tuesday.
Gregory L. Fenves, who has been the president of UT-Austin since 2015, will be the new president at Emory University in Atlanta.
"I am proud and honored to have served as dean of engineering, provost and, for the past five years, president of UT. I am grateful for the trust you placed in me as leader of this great university that improves the lives of Texans and changes the world every day," Fenves wrote in a letter to the University of Texas community.
The university said Fenves would continue to lead its response to the coronavirus pandemic through June.
"The timing of this news in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic is not what I had expected or wanted," Fenves wrote. "Our dedicated faculty and staff have striven to make the spring 2020 semester meaningful for our students. I want you to understand that I remain singularly focused on continuing that work, completing the semester and getting our community back to normal before my presidency ends on June 30."
Fenves first arrived at the University of Texas as an engineering professor in the 1980s, returned in 2008 as dean of the university's Cockrell School of Engineering, later became provost and ultimately was named president in 2015.
"President Fenves has been a passionate leader and an effective advocate for The University of Texas at Austin," University of Texas Chancellor James B. Milliken said. "As dean, provost and president, he has worked tirelessly to advance the interests of the flagship campus and to support its students, faculty and staff."
