photo by: Journal-World

University of Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod is pictured in this May 25, 2017, photo.

University of Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod concluded his term as chair of the board of directors of the Association of American Universities, the nation’s premier organization for research universities.

Girod served in the leadership position since last October and is succeeded by Ronald Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins University, AAU announced in a press release on Tuesday. KU has been a longtime member of AAU and is one of just 38 public universities that make up the 71-member organization.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to have served as chair, particularly because it has allowed KU’s interests and perspectives to be represented in national conversations about higher education,” Girod said in a message. “KU will continue working with AAU peers to ensure our research institutions remain positioned to do this important work.”

AAU’s board chair serves as a spokesperson for the organization and advocates for federal policy issues affecting research universities. They take part in discussions with lawmakers and help develop the association’s national policy positions. Members of AAU also are more likely to receive federal funding for research.

Girod will continue to serve as a member of the board, he said.

AAU was founded in 1900 by fourteen of the nation’s leading universities. Their goal was to create a more uniform higher education system in the U.S. and improve the reputation of American universities, which at the time were experiencing heavy migration of students who elected to study abroad. KU was one of eight additional universities that joined the organization by 1909 — which today includes many of the country’s most elite private research universities, such as Yale, Harvard, MIT and Princeton — and is the only university in Kansas that is part of the association.