By Alan Lytle
Lexington, KY – University of Kentucky President Lee T. Todd Junior has announced he will retire from his post effective June 30th 2011. In a forty-five minute press conference on Wednesday, Todd said ten years was a "nice round" number to signify the end his tenure as the university's 11th president. He said UK's Top 20 Business plan, that calls for the school to reach top twenty status as a research institution by 2020, will remain the goal as long as he is in charge.
"The legislature funded that plan, and in normal times I think they would have continued. And, I am sure they would have continued to fund it because we made a good case for it. We told them how we were going to do what they asked us to do, and we laid out a path. We laid out the financing for it, and they funded it to the tune of twenty some odd million dollars."
When asked what he intended to do after stepping down, Todd said he would like to be an outspoken voice for educational change in Kentucky.
"I want to spend time talking to legislators and elected leaders. I think I can say things when I'm not in this position that I can's say when I am in this position. There's a certain trap and a certain tongue-biting process you have to go through. I used to be a little more vitriolic when I was in business but I had to channel it some, but I want to sit down with them on a national level and a state level to talk about what this country needs to do."
Todd said he's been thinking about retiring since January of this year. He will be sixty-five when he officially steps down next June.