Colorado State president resigns

FORT COLLINS, Colo., Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Larry Penley resigned as president of Colorado State University Wednesday, saying he wanted to pursue other jobs.

Penley has headed up the Colorado school the past five years but had come in for criticism from students and staff, who maintain the administrative budget has become bloated at the expense of academic programs, The Denver Post reported. The school has nearly 27,000 undergraduate students, about 1,400 faculty members and about 4,000 staff.

Penley made his resignation known in a letter to Douglas Jones, chairman of the board of governors of the CSU system.

"I want to be free to pursue other leadership positions in higher education," Penley said in that letter. "This resignation will allow me the flexibility to do so."

Jones said the board would begin a national search for the school's next president. CSU Provost Tony Frank was named interim president.