http://tennessean.com/article/20090218/NEWS02/90218054/-1/NLETTER04?source=nletter-breakingnewsUniversity of Tennessee President John Petersen to step down
By Brad Schrade • The Tennessean • February 18, 2009
University of Tennessee President John Petersen announced his resignation today as pressure mounted from a five-year job review that was ongoing, and apparently not going that well.
Petersen will effectively lose the reins of the state’s flagship system on March 1 as he begins a four-month paid administrative leave until his official resignation date of June 30, according to a release issued this afternoon.
Dr. Jan Simek, who has been with the university since 1984, will be recommended by the board to fill Petersen’s position on an interim basis that could last for up to two years, the release said. Simek will serve as acting president starting March 1 until July 1 when he will take over as interim president.
The change represents the third major leadership change in the president’s office at the university in eight years. Petersen’s two predecessors – John Shumaker and J. Wade Gilley – stepped down earlier this decade amid separate scandals.
http://tennessean.com/article/20090218/NEWS02/90218054/-1/NLETTER04?source=nletter-breakingnews