By Nick Gray and Josh Huff

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After serving at UK for 18 months, Provost Christine Riordan is leaving the university to become the 10th president and first woman president of Adelphi University in New York.

The search for a new provost will begin immediately after President Eli Capilouto meets with deans and other academic leaders, UK spokesman Jay Blanton told the Kernel.

Adelphi and Capilouto made the announcement Tuesday afternoon.

“In (Christine) Riordan, they have recruited and selected as their next leader someone with widely recognized skills as an educator, scholar, communicator, advocate and fundraiser,” Capilouto wrote in a campus-wide email to students.

Her position as Provost will conclude on Dec. 31, and Riordan will continue to serve the university as executive adviser for special projects until she becomes president at Adelphi on July 1, 2015.

“Although her tenure with us has been relatively brief, Chris’ leadership over the past 18 months has been at the heart of a number of initiatives important to the success of the University of Kentucky,” Capilouto wrote in the email.

Blanton told the Kernel that Riordan was heavily involved with UK’s enrollment management alongside Don Witt, the associate provost for enrollment management.

“That was critical to recruiting the largest and most academically accomplished class in our university’s history,” Blanton said. “She also has been very engaged in a number of initiatives, hiring several new deans as well as the dramatic expansion of our living and learning programs.”

Riordan became UK’s provost in 2013 after serving as dean at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver from 2008 to 2013.

“It was not really surprising to us,” Blanton said to the Kernel. “I think that it is clear that when you have good people, they may be desired by other places.”

Adelphi is one of New York’s oldest private, co-educational institutions and has more than 8,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The university is a nationally ranked doctoral research institution based in Long Island.

“Chris (Riordan) and I have talked often about her interest in being a president as well as her passion for the important educational mission served by independent institutions like Adelphi and her previous institution, the University of Denver,” Capilouto wrote in the email.

As an executive adviser for UK, Riordan will continue to make her current $420,000 annual salary, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

“I know you will join me in congratulating Chris and her family on this incredible opportunity and congratulating Adelphi University on bringing their presidential search to such a successful conclusion,” Capilouto wrote in the email. “We wish Chris the best as she embarks on this next exciting chapter in her professional life.”

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