Texas A&M University President Bowen Loftin is stepping down.
The university said Friday in a news release that Loftin will leave his position in January. Loftin is a 1970 Aggie graduate and was named president in Feburary 2010, after serving for eight months as interim president.
Loftin will remain with A&M as a tenured professor in the school's department of industrial and systems engineering.
He says he misses teaching and doing research, and says he looks forward to staying "on the 'front lines' of the academy."
A&M left the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference during Loftin's tenure. The university also credited Loftin for overseeing growth in research dollars and the school's freshman class. This year's incoming class is the largest in A&M's history.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.