DATE: Saturday, March 8, 1997               TAG: 9703080313

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   32 lines

PRESIDENT TO STEP DOWN AT UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND

University of Richmond President Richard L. Morrill will retire at the end of the 1997-98 term, rector Austin Brockenbrough III said Friday.

Morrill, who has been president since 1988, plans to take a yearlong sabbatical and return to the university in the fall of 1999 as a humanities professor.

He said his decision to retire from the presidency was ``a mixture of personal and broader concerns.''

After 20 years as a college president at three institutions, Morrill said he is ``relishing the possibility of having more time and freedom for writing, teaching and other interests.''

During Morrill's tenure, Richmond's endowment and investments increased more than 250 percent, from $271 million to $654 million, the university said. Total university assets grew from $431 million to almost $1 billion.

The private university also became more diverse and selective. Enrollment of minority students increased from 4 percent to 11 percent, and undergraduate average test scores have risen to the 92nd percentile.

In addition, the school added 53 full-time faculty positions and increased the number of women and minority faculty.

Before joining Richmond, Morrill was president of Centre College in Danville, Ky., and before that of Salem College in Winston-Salem, N.C. A committee of trustees and faculty will begin the search for a new president by spring, Brockenbrough said.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu