Illinois Wesleyan University's president says he plans to retire at the end of July.

Richard F. Wilson made the announcement Monday in a news release. He has been president at the private university in Bloomington for 11 years.

Wilson said that the completion of several important projects over the past few years made this a good time to retire.

Those projects included a $141 million fundraising campaign and a pair of strategic planning efforts.

Before he became president at Illinois Wesleyan, Wilson was associate chancellor for development at the University of Illinois. He also had been vice president of the University of Illinois Foundation.

The news release from Illinois Wesleyan said a national search for a new president will start right away. The school has about 2,000 students.