Mark Yudof will serve as President of the UC system until the end of August. After that he plans to return to teaching law at UC Berkeley.
In a personal statement on the University of California website, Yudof said the past 18 months brought on "taxing health issues." He said it's time to make a change in his professional lifestyle.
Sixty eight-year-old Yudof became president about five years ago, a time he describes as presenting one of the most severe budget challenges in the public university's history.
He thanked the UC Regents, faculty who took furloughs, and students who dealt with rising tuition rates.