Bethel University president is retiring

JACKSON, Tenn. — After 15 years, the president of Bethel University is stepping down.

Robert Prosser says his retirement will take effect July 31. The school’s director of financial affairs, Walter Butler, will become interim president after Prosser’s departure.

Bethel University board of trustees Chairman Ben Cantrell says Prosser “defined the term The Entrepreneurial President.”

“Under his leadership Bethel College, a sleepy little liberal arts college in McKenzie, Tennessee, became a vibrant university with students on the national stage doing vastly different things,” Cantrell said. “His spirit and energy will be missed.”

The Jackson Sun reports the recent announcement comes as the school faces concerns about its finances. It laid off 19 workers during the 2012-13 school year and has operated with a deficit for two years, although Butler has said it won’t have a deficit when the current fiscal year ends later this summer.

A statement from the school says Prosser is credited with helping the institution prosper after it nearly closed in the 1990s due to low enrollment.

“Under Prosser’s leadership, enrollment went from just over 200 students in fall 1998 to more than 5,000 students in fall 2012,” the statement said. “Prosser’s visionary approach to leadership led to the implementation of a number of programs” that contributed to increased enrollment.

One of Prosser’s biggest moves as president came in 2009 when the name of the school changed from Bethel College to Bethel University — which Prosser said better reflected what the institution had become and would make it more appealing for the future.