By NOAH TABORDA
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — After 25 years at the helm of Washburn University, Jerry Farley says he will retire effective Sept. 30.
Farley, the longest-tenured Washburn University president, has led the school since 1997. He said Monday he will transition to the role of president emeritus with a focus on fundraising and international student recruitment following his retirement.
“For several years, I have worked with the Washburn University Board of Regents and talked with them about the succession planning that needs to occur if we’re going to have a smooth easy transfer of authority,” said Farley, who will turn 76 just over a week before his retirement. “My wife and I had some free time for ourselves in this last week and decided this is the time.”
During his tenure, Farley aimed to move the campus away from being a commuter school, transitioning to a more traditional college experience. He also brought the Kansas Bureau of Investigation Forensic Center to the university.
He also touted the addition of Washburn Tech from USD 501 in 2008.
An Oklahoma native, Farley arrived at Washburn after spending the previous 25 years in Oklahoma’s higher education system. He served on multiple local boards and was a co-founder of Go Topeka, a community development arm of the Greater Topeka Partnership.
“Washburn is better than when I came, I think,” Farley said. “That’s what I hope (to tell my successor), that we have structured things so that it will work for students and help them achieve what they want to do.”
Farley is the latest university administrator to announce their departure. JuliAnn Mazachek is taking on the role of president at Midwestern State University in Texas, School of Law Dean Carla Pratt is leaving to be the endowed chair at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and Washburn Tech dean Gary Bayens retired after 25 years.
The decision about who will lead the institution next falls to the Washburn University Board of Regents, which will start the search process in the next few days. Board chairman Terry Beck said the goal is to hire someone before Farley’s retirement in September.
Beck told the small crowd gathered for the retirement announcement they were hopeful Washburn would be lucky enough to have another president who sticks around for 25 years.
“It’s going to be hard to replace a giant,” Beck said. “You see his fingerprints all over the school. It has grown so much, and he has been such a positive force, so we congratulate him on a job well done.”