The long-time leader of Washington State University’s Vancouver branch is stepping down.

Chancellor, Hal Dengerink helped start the school in 1989 in a single building on the Clark College campus. He helped establish a separate campus, and expand the school to a four-year college.

Dengerink is on medical leave, and wasn’t available for comment. Faculty members say Dengerink’s influence has been enormous. Psychology professor Mike Morgan says he took a leap of faith to join the new college, back in the early 1990’s.

“I was coming out of UC San Francisco and was offered the position here with the promise that they would actually build a campus, build a lab for me, and I sat there at the time thinking: ‘You know, if they do this, its going to be great. If they don’t do it, I just threw my career away.’ So I took the gamble, and everything that Hal promised, came true,” Morgan said.

The current interim chancellor, Lynn Valenter, will continue to fill Hal Dengerinks shoes for the time being. But psych professor, Mike Morgan, says theres anxiety on campus about who will be Dengerink’s permanent replacement. The news also comes as higher education in Washington faces steep budget cuts.