MIAMI — The president of Florida International University has explained why he suddenly ended his 45-year career.
Mark Rosenberg initially cited health reasons.
In a statement Friday on FIU's site, Rosenberg said, "I am stepping back so that I may give full attention to recurring personal health issues and to the deteriorating health of my wife, Rosalie."
A follow-up statement Sunday blames his wife's advanced dementia in part for him getting emotionally entangled with a co-worker.
"I unintentionally created emotional (not physical) entanglement. I have apologized," Rosenberg said in part in a statement to the university. "I apologize to you. I take full responsibility and regret my actions."
The Miami Herald reports that a woman in her 20s said the 72-year-old academic had been harassing her for months and wouldn't stop.
The Herald says Rosenberg on Sunday said in a statement he had "caused discomfort for a valued colleague." That prompted an investigation, and the Board of Trustees told him to resign or be fired.
"We are deeply saddened and disappointed by the events requiring his resignation," Board of Trustees Chairman Dean Colson said in a statement to the university.
Colson says the university in South Florida takes all workplace conduct seriously.
Rosenberg first joined FIU in 1976 as an assistant professor of political science. In 2009, Rosenberg became the first FIU president to rise from the faculty.
Colson said the reasons behind Rosenberg's resignation is why the Board of Trustees "did not believe Friday was the appropriate time to celebrate the many accomplishments of FIU the past 13 years."
NBC Miami says those accomplishments include improved graduation rates, increased enrollment, more than 400 new full-time faculty members hired and a more than 120% growth of research expenditures.
Dr. Kenneth A. Jessell was selected as FIU's interim president.
10 Tampa Bay's Claire Farrow contributed to this report.
