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During the annual State of the University Address, NIU President, John Peters announced
that after 13 years, he'll be stepping out of the Presidency, effective June 30th, 2013.
I've been working since I've been 6 years old, since my dad on the farm made me drive
a tractor so for me the concept of retirement never existed. I'm going to do some writing,
and maybe a little teaching, and maybe some consulting, and see what that brings. I've
worked with President Peters very closely for the last 12 years, and I think it's been
a blessing for NIU that he's come here. He had a mission of making the University external,
and I think he did a wonderful job of taking NIU's message to the outside world. We're
better known than we were 12 years ago and he's a personally a wonderful person. He believes
in people. He tries to get the best out of them. I think he's a true partner and a wonderful
leader. He'll be missed. And we wish him all the best for the future. It is a bittersweet
day for NIU, I think it's something we knew was coming for some time and people have been
speculating about it for a while. 13 years for a resident is a long time. The average
President is President for about 4 or 5 years so this community, this University owes a
whole lot to President Peters, he's been a phenomenal leader. His legacy will always
be how he handled February 14th but he was so much more to this institution in so many
ways. He's known as a student president, he truly loves our students. I think our students
are going to miss him more than anybody. But he's been a great mentor to me and I'm certainly
going to miss him very much and I know this university is going to miss him as well. Obviously
it comes with a sense of sadness, I've only been here for four years, but the President
has become a father figure for me personally, so it's sad to see him go. I'm happy at the
fact that he's leaving as I'm leaving, But one thing that I feel unfortunate for a lot
of students is that they're not able to see the personal side of John Peters and who he
is as a man. But I think he's been an amazing President, for me he's been an amazing leader.
Someone that I can definitely look up to.