Woodbury University in Burbank on Thursday announced the sudden departure of school President Luis Ma. R. Calingo, who will relinquish his responsibilities at the end of this month. Calingo, who was only appointed to the post in 2012, will go on sabbatical starting March 1 through June 30, at which time he will leave the university. Calingo came from Domincan University in San Rafael, where he was executive vice president and chief academic officer. He will be succeeded on an interim basis by Provost David Dauwalder. The board of trustees held a town hall Thursday on the campus to announce Calingo’s departure and its plans to begin a nationwide search for a permanent replacement. In a statement released by the university, Calingo said that he made the decision to leave late last fall. “I did so after a thorough reflection of the accomplishments that Woodbury has had during my presidency,” the statement read. “I would have liked to lead our university through the completion of our strategic plan. However, over the next 10 years, when the university will be pursuing the growth and sustained excellence stages of our strategic plan, Woodbury would need to be led by one or two presidents whose skill sets would be different from mine. Therefore, I have decided to seek other leadership opportunities,” the statement continued. David St. Amant, chairman of the board of trustees, said Calingo brought meaningful operational changes to the university. “The Board chose LuĂs Calingo to lead Woodbury because of his visioning and strategic planning competencies, as well as his understanding of the capacity-building needs of the university,” he said in a prepared statement. “We want to express our deep gratitude to Dr. Calingo for his extraordinary service to Woodbury University and for making Woodbury a better place.
