A collection of Journal-World photos from key moments in Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little’s career at the University of Kansas. Gray-Little became KU’s 17th chancellor in 2009 and plans to step down from the role this month.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Douglas A. Girod, M.D., executive vice chancellor of the University of Kansas Medical Center, left, and KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little react to chants from the graduates asking Gray-Little to stay one more year. Gray-Little has announced she is stepping down this summer. The two participated in the KU commencement ceremonies Sunday, May 14, 2017 on the KU campus.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Richard DeGeorge, professor Emeritus of Philosophy at KU visits with Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little Thursday, May 4 at the Lied Center, during a student, faculty and staff celebration for Gray-Little. The event included a barbecue and ice cream in the Lied Center Pavilion, followed by a 7 p.m. concert by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and soul music legend Booker T. Jones. The chancellor announced in September 2016 that she would step down in summer 2017.

photo by: Mike Yoder

University of Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little signals to a crane operator to hoist a special signed beam to the top of KU's new Integrated Science Building to celebrate the university's Central District project, Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016.

photo by: Associated Press

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, foreground, other KU officials and members of the state board of regents, attend a house appropriations committee hearing in Topeka, Kan., on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. KU turned to a Wisconsin agency to secure financing for new student housing and new science labs because it needed to move quickly, university officials said, as the school sought to answer Republican lawmakers' allegations that it went rogue. (Thad Allton/Topeka Capital-Journal via AP)

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little listens to a students comments during a town hall forum she moderated Nov. 11, 2015 on the KU campus.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little listens to a question as she moderates a town hall forum on race at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union in November 2015.

photo by: Sara Shepherd

A group of students identifying itself as Rock Chalk Invisible Hawk takes the stage and reads a list of diversity and inclusion related demands for Kansas University during KU's town hall forum on race Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015, at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union, as KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, far right, who was moderating the forum, looks on. Sign language interpreter Kim Bates, left, translated throughout the event.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Tim Caboni, vice chancellor for public affairs at KU, left, greets passengers exiting a motorized trolley car in front of Strong Hall Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. At right is KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. KU held a formal dedication ceremony for Jayhawk Boulevard, which is undergoing a four-year reconstruction project that includes rebuilding the roadway and replanting the historic tree canopy over it.

photo by: Mike Yoder

From left, Douglas A. Girod, M.D., executive vice chancellor of KU Medical Center, KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback visit Aug. 27, 2015, during a ceremonial groundbreaking at the University of Kansas Medical Center for its $75 million Health Education Building, which will serve as the primary teaching facility for the KU schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little speaks before President Barack Obama delivers a speech Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015, to a crowd gathered inside the Anschutz Sports Pavilion at KU.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and her husband, Shade Little, smile as President Barack Obama takes the stage for his remarks on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015 at Anschutz Pavilion on the campus of Kansas University in Lawrence, Kan. President Obama visited Lawrence to outline some of his themes delivered during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas University chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little announces a $58 million gift from the estate of two late KU alumni, Madison 'Al' and Lila Self. The gift will go toward scholarships and fellowships for students in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, business and economics. The donation brings the Selfs' donations to a total of $106 million, the most in university history.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas University chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, left, shakes hands with new head football coach David Beaty, right, after an introductory press conference Monday, Dec. 8, 2014, at the Anderson Family Football Complex at KU in Lawrence, Kan. Beaty, the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Texas A&M, was hired by KU Friday. At center is Sheahon Zenger, KU director of athletics.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas University chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, takes self-portrait of herself during her speech to graduates at the 142nd Commencement at KU Sunday, May, 18, 2014.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Groundbreaking for the DeBruce Center, the future home of James Naismith’s ‘Rules of Basketball,’ is held on Friday outside Allen Fieldhouse. Taking part in the ceremony are, from left, donor Paul DeBruce, Kansas University chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, KU Endowment president Dale Seuferling, Big Jay, KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self, KU women’s basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson, “Far Above” campaign chairman Kurt Watson, KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger and Kansas Unions director David Mucci.

photo by: Nick Krug

Neeli Bendapudi, dean of the Kansas University School of Business, is flanked by Gov. Sam Brownback, KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, students, donors, KU faculty members and other dignitaries as they celebrate the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new School of Business on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, at the Lied Center.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little shakes hands with Charlie Weis after a news conference in which Weis was announced as the new head football coach for KU.

photo by: AP

University of Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, right, is seen as first lady Michelle Obama greets audience members after she spoke at an event about supporting and retaining women and girls in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Sept. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

photo by: Javier Casella | Associated Press, Casa De Narino Press Office

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little presents an autographed basketball to Colombian President and KU alumnus Juan Manuel Santos during a visit at the Presidential Palace in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday March 17, 2011.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, right, leads Sheahon Zenger, left and Ray Evans, center, into a press conference at Hadl Auditorium Monday, Jan. 3, 2011, to introduce Zenger as the university's newest athletic director. Zenger was previously athletic director at Illinois State University.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little watches the second half of the KU game against Miami of Ohio on Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse. Next to her is her husband, Shade Little, and behind them is Provost Jeffrey Vitter. KU on Sunday named Sheahon Zenger as the new athletic director; he will be formally introduced today. KU won the basketball game 83-56.

photo by: Richard Gwin

KU Athletic Director Lew Perkins, from left, Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, University General Counsel Jim Pottorff and Jack Focht of Wichita law firm Foulston Siefkin prepare to take questions from the media after releasing Foulston Siefkin's investigation into a ticket scandal in KU's athletic ticket office.

photo by: Mike Yoder

KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little discusses the resignation of Kansas Athletic Director Lew Perkins during a press conference Thursday, at the Dole Institute. Perkins will retire Sept. 4, 2011.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Turning the first shovels of dirt on Kansas University’s Engineering Complex Lawn at Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony are, from left, Linda Sims, Robb Sorem, Brandon DeKosky, Glen Marotz, Stuart Bell and KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. The new building will house laboratories for multidisciplinary research.

photo by: Jon Goering

KU Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little prepares to deliver her Inaugural Address during her Installation Ceremony on Sunday at the Lied Center.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Christina Hixson, right, speaks at a Lied Center expansion ceremony Thursday. Hixson, the sole trustee of the Ernst F. Lied Foundation Trust, gave $10 million of the trust's money to build the Lied Center in the 1980s. Hixson has been named a life trustee of the Kansas University Endowment Association. At left is KU chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little.

photo by: Scott Rothschild

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and Gov. Mark Parkinson on Thursday march from Kansas Judicial Center to First Presbyterian Church as part of the governor's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. Parkinson spoke at the event, and Gray-Little delivered the keynote address. About 100 people attended. Parkinson said King was the greatest figure of the last century and Gray-Little said King wanted us to achieve our destiny and help others achieve theirs.

photo by: Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

President Barack Obama waves Wednesday in the East Room of the White House in Washington during a ceremony attended by Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, far right. The ceremony honored teachers for excellence in mathematics and science teaching and mentoring. Obama also received a letter from Gray-Little and 78 other leaders of public universities, pledging to substantially increase the number and diversity of science and math teachers.

photo by: Kevin Anderson

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and her husband, Shade Little, were in the crowd November 19, 2009, at Allen Fieldhouse to watch the Kansas men’s basketball team take on Central Arkansas.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Kansas University’s new chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, along with KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self, wave the wheat with thousands of new students at Traditions Night on Monday at Memorial Stadium.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Bernadette Gray-Little is introduced as Kansas University's 17th chancellor on Friday, May 29, at the Kansas Board of Regents office in Topeka. Gray-Little is provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a former psychology professor who served as dean of UNC's College of Arts and Sciences before being named provost.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Bernadette Gray-Little is introduced as Kansas University's 17th chancellor on Friday, May 29, at the Kansas Board of Regents office in Topeka. Gray-Little is provost and executive vice chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a former psychology professor who served as dean of UNC's College of Arts and Sciences before being named provost.