RAPID CITY - Charles Ruch, president of South Dakota School of Mines & Technology since 2003, announced his plans to retire from the South Dakota public university system next summer. The announcement was made Thursday on the Rapid City campus.

"I just want to see the (South Dakota university system) get better and better," Ruch said in a later interview. "It's already high quality, but I want it to get even better."

Ruch will end his service to Tech on June 30, 2008, Regents Executive Director Robert T. Tad Perry said in a prepared news release.

"Chuck Ruch has provided exemplary leadership for the School of Mines," Perry said. "At a time five years ago when he could have retired from his last presidency and taken more time for himself, he agreed to launch another chapter in a distinguished higher education career. South Dakota was indeed fortunate to benefit from his experience."

Regents President Harvey C. Jewett also gave him accolades.

"President Ruch gets high marks from the regents for his keen focus on the academic, research and public-service missions of SDSMT," he said, also noting that Ruch redoubled the school's focus on research and graduate education and launched a comprehensive strategic-planning process.

Ruch said he is particularly proud of the efforts under way at the Tech campus in research and graduate education. Since he arrived in 2003, the school has doubled the number of it doctoral programs, and awards for research-related grants and contracts increased to $17.2 million last year from $12.7 million five years ago - a 35 percent increase in four years. A new business incubator on the Tech campus also has created important links between higher education, economic development and the Black Hills region, he said.

"I am also pleased that the School of Mines has increased its admissions standards so that we can ensure that students who want to be scientists and engineers are well prepared for college work when they arrive on our campus," Ruch said.

As a result, Ruch said, retention has also increased. In the past two years, freshmen-to-sophomore retention has risen from 72 percent to 76 percent - a number Ruch said he would "love to see it continue to rise."

"I didn't do it alone," he said. "We all sat down and decided we would continue to work on recruiting the best students and make sure the students who arrive are really ready to study engineering and science. We also spent a lot of time working with students."

Ruch said the coming challenge of all higher education institutions in the state is continuing to meet the expectations of many stakeholders, parents, students and faculty.

"The biggest challenge for School of Mines is that we are a single-purpose institution - engineering and science - and we need to continue to improve," he said. "We need to get even better at recruiting and training and doing important research and continuing the economic development of the region."

The ability to change is also important, he said.

The school "operates in an ever-changing world, and so you can't just sit," he said.

Before coming to Tech, Ruch was president at Boise State University for 10 years. He previously held positions at Virginia Commonwealth University as an associate dean, dean, and as provost and vice president for academic affairs, and at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a faculty member and department chairman. Ruch holds degrees from Northwestern University and The College of Wooster (Ohio).

Ruch said that since he came directly from Boise State to Tech, he hasn't had a chance to think about what he will do with the free time coming his way.

"I know my wife is expecting me to find other things to do," he said, laughing.

After next June, the Ruchs plan to return to Boise, where their family lives.

"As much as we love the area - the Black Hills are powerful - but they can't compete with grandkids," he said.

Jewett said the Board of Regents will announce soon a presidential search process and timeline for securing Ruch's successor.