MADISON, Wis. -- University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor John Wiley announced on Friday that he would step down next year.

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At age 65, Wiley said this is not a retirement but that the timing is right for him to step out of his current role. Wiley said he plans to resume a faculty position in September 2008. He spoke during a news conference on Friday afternoon.

"This seems like the right time to have a transition, and so that's what I'm announcing today," Wiley said. "There is no perfect time for any chancellor at this university to take over in terms of the budget cycle. We're in a biennial budget cycle. But as far as I can tell, with several years now of experience, the best time, if there is a best time, is right halfway through a biennium."

Wiley took the chancellor's role in 2001, after David Ward. Both men were appointed to leadership roles by then-Chancellor Donna Shalala.

"I view my time here as chancellor as being the third piece of a three-chancellor administration, starting with Donna, through David, to me. She appointed both of us, when she took over as chancellor, and we were a team. Very little is built on one individual. It's built on the efforts of others," Wiley said.

UW System Board of Regents President Mark Bradley praised Wiley's accomplishments as chancellor and said a nationwide search will be launched for Wiley's successor.

"I wanted to say how much we appreciated your broad strategic view of the role that the UW-Madison campus has in the larger picture of the UW System," Bradley said.

Bradley said that a search and screening committee comprised of campus faculty and leadership will be created that will assess the candidates, with the help of the Regent Selection Committee. That committee will make the final recommendation to the full Board of Regents.

If a committee can be assembled by January, officials hope to hire a replacement in six months, Bradley said.

"This is going to be an extensive, national search. We're looking for someone obviously with impressive credentials but also someone with comparable leadership abilities to John. Obviously that person is going to have some very big shoes to fill," Bradley said.

Wiley oversaw a number of major issues during his tenure. He headed listening sessions surrounded the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and oversaw Internet projects such as the expansion of "Access," the student online registration system.

Under Wiley's leadership, the university has remained a leader in research, built several new buildings and enjoyed success in athletics. Wiley has spent much of his time raising money for major projects, including new state-of-the-art research laboratories.

The university has had a rocky relationship with the state Legislature, and some critics said that Wiley is partly to blame for that.

Assessing Wiley's Legacy

For six years, Wiley has been the administrative face of the UW-Madison campus.

Students and staff agreed that Wiley's legacy will outlast his tenure.

Some said it was fitting for Wiley to make his announcement at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus. It's his dedication to the arts that many said they will remember.

"John has been a tremendous supporter of the arts, (and) tremendous friends with the school of music, the whole east end of campus. We've got the plans headed forward for the Chazen addition to the museum," said Paula Bonner, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

One student said those expansion plans come from Wiley's dedication to fundraising.

"I'd say the commemorative fundraising -- that's huge. Given the way the main budget has been cut back from the state Legislature in the past couple decades," said Max Grinnell, a graduate student at UW-Madison.

But UW-Madison freshman Kara Marnell said that it is Wiley's enthusiasm for the university she'll remember the most.

"I think I'm just going to remember that first day when he spoke to us, and his energy about the school and just how much he cared about the school," Marnell said.

While the museum's artwork serves as one of the fruits of Wiley's labor, some said it is the people surrounding him that represent his ultimate legacy.

"I'm aware of how much he meant to our graduates and how generous he was with his time. He never met somebody on the road where he didn't have time to stop and talk, and sometimes we'd be running events and the janitors would be sweeping the floors and pushing us out because he was still there taking everybody's questions," Bonner said.

Gov. Jim Doyle also talked about Wiley's achievements Friday and said that the number of highly educated graduates ready for the jobs of the future is ultimately Wiley's legacy.

When asked on Friday, Wiley said he really wasn't sure what his legacy will be. He said he will try to find in answer in the next nine months.

Wiley had been involved in the school for more than four decades as a graduate student, professor and administrator. From 1994 to 2000, he served as UW-Madison's provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. Prior to becoming provost, he was dean of the Graduate School and the university's senior research officer. From 1986 to 1989, he served as associate dean for research in the College of Engineering.

Wiley received his bachelor's degree in physics from Indiana University in 1964, and he attended graduate school at UW-Madison as a National Science Foundation Fellow, receiving master's and doctoral degrees in physics in 1965 and 1968, respectively.

He joined the UW-Madison faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in August 1975.

Wiley co-founded several successful research centers, including the Center for X-ray Lithography and the Engineering Research Center for Plasma-Aided Manufacturing.