Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin will step down from his position in January, he notified university leaders on Friday.
Loftin has officially been president since February of 2010, though he had been serving in an interim capacity since June 2009.
Prior to that, he was vice president and chief executive officer of A&M's Galveston branch. He was also a professor of maritime systems engineering.
Loftin does not plan to leave A&M after stepping down in 2014, but rather will start and lead a new institute within the engineering department at the university.
In the meantime, university officials indicate they will begin a search for a new president.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://www.texastribune.org/2013/07/12/texas-m-president-loftin-stepping-down/.