Sally Mason, President of U. of Iowa, Will Retire

Sally K. Mason, president of the University of Iowa, announced on Thursday she was retiring. Ms. Mason, 64, will have been president for eight years when she steps down, on August 1.

“The holiday break gave me and my husband time to reflect on how we’d like to spend the next few years,” Ms. Mason said in a news release. “When I returned, I approached Board of Regents leadership about retiring.” Ms. Mason cited enrollment growth, retention, and the four-year graduation rate during her tenure as points of pride.

But parts of Ms. Mason’s tenure have been rocky since she took office, in 2007. Less than a year later, some of the campus was inundated by flooding from the Iowa River, a natural disaster that cost the university an estimated $743-million in damage.

That same year, Ms. Mason apologized for bungling the administration’s response to an alleged sexual assault by two male athletes against a female student. Last year Ms. Mason said in an interview with The Daily Iowan that ending sexual assaults was unrealistic “given human nature,” a remark she later apologized for.

“President Mason has been a tremendous advocate for the university and a national leader in the higher-education community,” Bruce Rastetter, president of the Board of Regents, said in the news release. “Thanks to her leadership during the floods and economic downturn, the University of Iowa continued to provide an affordable and high-quality education during challenging times.”