Emory University president to retire next year

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Emory University President Claire Sterk announced Wednesday morning she is retiring from her position as leader of Georgia's largest private university.

Sterk sent a message to students, faculty, staff and others saying she has been thinking about the decision for months and "I know it's the right decision at the right time."

"While I'm announcing my retirement as president, I'm not ready to conclude my academic career or my affiliation with Emory," Sterk wrote. "I started here as a professor, and now I will return to that honored position as a professor in our Rollins School of Public Health. I have never lost my passion for public health, and I look forward to resuming my work on some of the most important issues of our time such as the opioid crisis, access to mental health and global child health."

Sterk's tenure as president will end in August 2020, the university said. Emory's board of trustees will conduct a search for a new president.

Sterk began her tenure at Emory 24 years ago as an associate professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education and acting director of the Center for Women and Children. She became president in 2016, the first woman to serve in that role.

Emory has about 15,000 students and is one of the nation's top medical research institutions.

Cox Media Group