The Chairman of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees said Mike Hogan made the university stronger in his two years as university president. Hogan offered his resignation Thursday.

U of I Board Chairman Chris Kennedy said it was Hogan’s decision to resign, he wasn’t forced out. Hogan took over as president in 2010 after the university became mired in an admissions scandal. But in recent months, some faculty had started calling for Hogan to be fired.

Kennedy said Hogan has numerous accomplishments in two years’ time and he said Hogan has strengthened the university’s ability to recruit employees.

“People who are great agents of change rarely get to enjoy the change that they’ve wrought,” Kennedy said.

When asked if he expected he’d have to help pick another president so soon, Kennedy would say only, “Well, maybe we’ll get good at it.”

Kennedy said the board will conduct a national search for the next president, but he said there is a strong bench of potential candidates already at the university.