Salisbury University President announces plans to retire in 2022

SALISBURY, Md. – Salisbury University President Charles Wight announced on Thursday that he plans to step down from his position at the end of the current academic and fiscal year on June 30, 2022.

“This was a difficult decision, and a personal one. I haven’t made a secret of the fact that I have some serious health issues, and I need to spend more time taking care of myself than this job allows. I also need to spend more time with my family and my four grandchildren.,” the President said in a video announcement to campus.

Wight became SU’s ninth president in 2018. He began his higher education career as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Utah in 1984, and since starting his current position, has continued playing an active part in the classroom, teaching one course per year. He will continue that role into fall 2022 as a part time faculty member in SU’s Chemistry Department.

As president, Wight has focused on priorities including ensuring educational accessibility and affordability, building on the school’s culture of diversity and inclusion, being a steward of financial resources and the environment, and furthering mutually positive community relations, all with the goal of providing students with the greatest opportunities for success. Under Wight’s leadership, SU opened its Center for Equity, Justice, and Inclusion, reinstated its Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and completed a campus climate study. In addition, the Dave and Patsy Rommel Center for Entrepreneurship at SU Downtown and an enhanced 3-D arts studio have come under his presidency.

Academically, SU has been lauded among the country’s top universities and best values in higher education by national publications, including U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Money, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, and The Princeton Review. The school has also launched three new academic majors and 18 new minors.

In addition to numerous awards and recognitions received by the school during his time as president, Wight led the University through several challenges, including modified operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and incidences of racial injustice both on and off campus.

The USM Board of Regents will conduct a national search for SU’s 10th president, expected to take office on July 1, 2022.