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GREENSBORO — N.C. A&T Chancellor Stanley Battle announced his resignation Tuesday, citing family and personal reasons.

His resignation is effective June 30.

“This has been a remarkable experience for Judy and me,” he said in a news release late Tuesday. “We deeply appreciate the opportunity the Aggie family and the UNC system afforded us to help bright young minds grow, develop and prepare for a competitive global environment.”

Battle did not return phone calls to his office Tuesday. University officials denied rumors of his resignation throughout the day before issuing a statement confirming his resignation late Tuesday afternoon.

Battle began his job at A&T on July 1, 2007. Many of the people who worked with him, both on campus and off, said they found him an effective, hands-on manager.

Under Battle’s leadership, A&T became the first historically black college or university to receive the Engineering Research Center grant awarded by the National Science Foundation. The grant awarded the school $18 million over five years for engineering research and education.

When the grant was announced in September 2008, Battle said, “Ultimately, this center will change the way that some diseases are treated. ... The true interdisciplinary nature of this center will vastly improve the lives of many patients and help educate the next generation of bioengineering and nanotechnology researchers.”

He also began the Dowdy Scholars program, a four-year scholarship program for students with grade point averages ranging from 3.2 to 4.0.

“I had an extremely positive experience working with him,” said Mayor Yvonne Johnson, who got her graduate degree at A&T. “I wish him and his family the best in whatever they do next, and of course, wish the best for the university.”

UNC President Erskine Bowles released a statement on Battle’s resignation Tuesday.

“I respect his personal decision to do what he feels is best for him and his family,” Bowles said. “I am grateful for the commitment he has shown throughout his tenure to strengthening A&T academically and fiscally, and under his leadership, the campus has made important progress on both fronts.”

News of Battle’s resignation spread slowly throughout campus Tuesday afternoon, with many students expressing shock and disappointment.

“It’s a shame,” said Kenny Jones, 21, a junior. “It was looking like he was going to do a lot of good things for the university and take it to where it should be.”

Several faculty and staff members said they were told not to comment to the media. But some said Battle’s hands-on style was sometimes seen as micromanaging and led to conflicts that could be behind his resignation.

Other students said hearing that Battle’s departure was because of family reasons made sense given their interactions with him. Battle and his wife, Judith Rozie-Battle, are the parents of a daughter, Ashley Lynn, and students described him as a family man.

“He’s big on family, and he cared for (students) as a family,” said Jamie Johnson, 21, a junior. “He was involved and interested in student life and has always been there supporting us.”

Kiara Fryar, an 18-year-old freshman, said: “I hope everything is OK. ... I felt like he made a lot of progress here.”

Sophomore Erikka Martin, 20, said she liked Battle’s hands-on approach as well, noting he visited her dormitory to talk with students three times over the past year.

“It was also pretty bold of him to eat the cafeteria food here,” Martin said. “I’ve even seen him go back for seconds — that’s saying something.”

Before coming to A&T, Battle was president of Coppin State University in Baltimore, vice chancellor for academic and multicultural affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and associate vice president of academic affairs at Eastern Connecticut State University.

The chancellor whom Battle replaced, James Renick, left in 2006 after seven years to take a job at the Washington-based American Council on Education. In 2007, a state auditor’s report found that the university inappropriately moved $380,000 from a campus vending contract to a discretionary fund for Renick from 2003-2005.

The financial discrepancies led the Guilford district attorney’s office to ask the State Bureau of Investigation to conduct a criminal investigation. This January, the district attorney announced that no charges would be filed and said neither Renick nor a project manager had violated any laws or enriched themselves.

Under Battle, A&T’s audit findings fell from 13 to three with none related to fraud or abuse.

Staff writers Ryan Seals and Nancy McLaughlin contributed to this report.

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com