BRISTOL, Tenn. Months of calls for his dismissal by many students and a vote of no confidence by two-thirds of the faculty earlier this week culminated with the resignation Friday of longtime King University President Dr. Greg Jordan.

King Board of Trustees Executive Committee member Marcia Porter confirmed Jordans resignation in a written statement issued just after 4:30 p.m. Friday.

It is with a heavy heart that we accept Dr. Jordans resignation, Porter said in the release. We appreciate Gregs tremendous contributions to the school during his tenure as president, and before that as an esteemed faculty member. King University is the institution it is today, with expanding campuses, additional programs and multiple learning platforms, due to his vision, leadership and business acumen.

A vote was taken today by the trustees to appoint Dr. Richard A. Ray as interim president while a nationwide search is conducted for the next president. Ray had served as vice chairman of the Board of Trustees, the school said in the release.

Multiple attempts by the Bristol Herald Courier to speak with Jordan over the past week have been unsuccessful.

Jordan became the 10th president in the Presbyterian schools 146-year history when he was appointed in 1997.

Some of his achievements listed by the school in the release included the transition from a college to university, completion of a $50 million capital campaign, a student center complex, 16 consecutive years of enrollment increases, millions of dollars in endowment growth and increases in performing and visual arts offerings.

Starting in 2008, Jordan pursued a medical school that received seed funding from the Virginia Tobacco Commission, but it 2012 it was turned over to an independent corporation that is continuing the efforts.

The resignation closed a tumultuous week that began Monday with an anonymous ballot survey of faculty members, with 62 voting no confidence in Jordan, 30 giving him full confidence and nine abstaining, two faculty members told the Bristol Herald Courier earlier this week.

That vote was preceded by months of protests on campus by student-organized groups demanding a change in administration and a war of words that surfaced on the Internet through two pipelines of information begun by King alumni and faculty, a blog called King 1867, and by Kings Student Government Association President Andr Latimore.

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King University president resigns