The University of Florida's longest-tenured dean, John Kraft, announced his decision to step down from his position at the Warrington College of Business after the 2016-17 academic year.
Kraft has been Warrington's dean since 1990 and will stay on as a faculty member to teach and work with the college's entrepreneurship, international business and real estate programs. He earned about $592,000 in 2015, according to university records.
“The past 26 years have been incredibly rewarding,” Kraft said in a statement. “I am grateful to the dedicated faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the college whose commitment to compete with the best made my job infinitely more interesting."
Kraft's relationship with the college stretches back nearly 50 years, stemming from when he became an assistant economics professor in 1970. After leaving for six years to work for what's now the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C., Kraft returned in 1980 as the Director of the Bureau of Economics and Business Research and was appointed associate dean a year later.
"Dean Kraft has been an extraordinary leader for our business college, transforming it into one of the nation’s best institutions in business education and research, with a growing influence in higher education and the private sector," UF President Kent Fuchs said in a statement. "His sage management decisions and many innovations contribute to UF’s rising stature and will benefit students for generations to come."
UF has contracted the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller to conduct a national search for the business school's next dean.