Chicago State University President Wayne Watson plans to retire when his contract ends next year.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Watson said in a prepared statement he believes the university has made progress over the past few years. He said that is among the reasons that make it a good time to retire.
Watson is 69. He became Chicago State's 19th president in October 2009 after serving as chancellor of Community Colleges of Chicago.
Watson is credited with overseeing improvements in the then-troubled school's standards and policies.
But the university's board at one point considered firing him for an unspecified breach of school policy. And a former university employee won a whistleblower lawsuit last year after alleging she was fired for reporting university problems to the Illinois attorney general.
