HAMMOND – Howard Cohen, chancellor of Purdue University Calumet, has announced he is stepping down effective June 30, 2011, after nine years at the helm of the campus.

            Cohen, 66, said he plans to remain at Purdue Calumet as a faculty member in the Department of English and Philosophy.

            “This university has been a great source of pride for me. It has been my conviction that we are working in the most challenging and interesting sector in American higher education,” said Cohen. “If our country’s future depends on expanding the proportion of our citizenry with post-secondary degrees, we regional universities are the best positioned agents of this national priority.”

            Under Cohen’s leadership, PUC has become an experiential learning leader. Students must complete two experiential learning courses within their degree program, giving them real world experience.

            He also emphasized student preparedness and success in degree attainment which has led to a 9.5 percent increase in freshman-to-sophomore retention rate of 69 percent, and a 29 percent increase in the six-year graduation rate to 70 percent.

            Cohen has also extended PUC’s outreach in Northwest Indiana, been a champion for student housing at the university and overseen implementation of 13 new degree programs.