Pacific Lutheran University President Stepping Down

TACOMA  (AP) — Pacific Lutheran University President Thomas Krise says he is leaving the job when his term ends in May.

The News Tribune reports Krise will stay at the university as an English professor. He's been president since 2012.

In a letter to staff Thursday, he expressed gratitude to the university community and wrote about the school's ongoing preparations for a program review and public fund-raising campaign.

He didn't say why he was leaving.

Krise was 50 when hired as the first non-Lutheran leader in PLU's history.

Krise replaced Loren Anderson and had been the dean of the Arts and Sciences College at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

University spokeswoman Donna Gibbs says an interim president will be announced within the next week.