President quits at Springfield's Drury University

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) -- Drury University is looking for a new president after John Sellars resigned for what he said were personal reasons less than two years after taking over the job.

Sellars did not elaborate on the reasons for his departure. John Beuerlein, president of Drury's Board of Trustees, said Sellars was not forced to quit or fired.

The announcement was made Monday at a hastily called faculty and staff meeting held in Clara Thompson Hall.

Sellars replaced longtime president John E. Moore Jr. at Drury, which has about 4,600 students.

Todd Parnell, a Drury graduate, will be interim president for a year while the school searches for a replacement. Parnell had been named recently as the first executive director of Drury's Edward Jones Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Faculty, staff and administrators reacted with shock at the resignation and pleasure that a Drury graduate was taking over as president.

Sellars, who had been a finalist for the president's job at Missouri State University two years ago, took over at Drury after serving as vice president for university advancement at Syracuse University.

In his resignation letter, Sellars wrote: "I have chosen to make this move for personal reasons. It will give me the opportunity to pursue other career opportunities."

The university did not disclose the financial arrangements of the resignation.

Sellars is believed to have a five-year contract worth more than $150,000 a year.

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com