Bennion announced his resignation during an afternoon meeting with about 500 SUU employees.

"It's a bittersweet moment. This is a hard place to leave," Bennion, 64, said in an interview.

But after more than 20 years as a college or university president, he and his wife Marjorie decided the time is right for Bennion to accept a call to serve as a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The couple leave in early July for the New York City South mission.

The state Board of Regents will begin an immediate nationwide search for his replacement, Higher Education Commissioner Richard Kendell said.

Regents chairman Nolan Karras will move to appoint an 18- to 22-member search committee made up of higher education administrators, faculty, students, trustees and donors.

If necessary, the regents will appoint an interim president to serve until a new president is found, Kendell added.

"We're probably looking at fall before we have a permanent replacement."

Bennion, whose grandfather Milton Bennion in 1897 started a teacher-training school that later became SUU, replaced longtime SUU President Gerald Sherratt in March 1997.

During his tenure, the former president of LDS Church-owned Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in Rexburg, Idaho, helped build programs, adding master's degrees in business, arts administration, communication and forensic science.

Kendell said Bennion also oversaw construction of new facilities, including a library and a physical education facility.

"He has helped sustain a remarkable college education down there," Kendell said.

A strong leader, Bennion's style sometimes has been viewed as heavy-handed.

He has been criticized by some for his conservative approach that in 2002 led him to call for creation of an advisory panel to decide who controls content at the student newspaper following publication of a story about the scarcity of condoms on campus.

In 2004, SUU professor Stephen Roberds and others questioned the state of academic freedom on campus after Roberds came under scrutiny for using an obscenity in his classroom. He later was fired.

And in 2000, faculty members requested a formal audience with the Board of Regents to air concerns that Bennion's restructuring and cost-cutting measures were proceeding without their input.

They released a 68-page report that claimed morale was at a five-year low, but the regents later backed Bennion, saying they agreed with his vision for SUU.

Bennion on Monday said he believes he has been able to work through some of the problems. "There are challenges but I think morale now is quite good."

His announcement is "pretty close to a true retirement," but Bennion left open the possibility he may return one day to teach political science, his academic specialty.

lisac@sltrib.com