The president of Fort Valley State University said Thursday he will step down effective June 30. Larry Rivers has served as president since March 2006.

Rivers, who graduated from the college in 1973, told Chancellor Hank Huckaby he would like to return to teaching, according to a news release from the University System of Georgia.

“These almost seven years have offered exhilaration and challenge, but I feel that our university has been able to move forward and that the goals I set upon my arrival have been met,” Rivers said in a statement.