In the wake of Tuesday’s announcement that he is leaving Iowa State for Purdue University, President Martin Jischke held a press conference Wednesday, in which he expounded on his decision to leave Ames after nine-and-half years and talked about the positive memories he has of being a Cyclone.

Jischke signed a five-year contract with Purdue that will go into effect at midnight Aug. 13. Although he doesn’t know what his exact salary will be yet, “it’s substantially more than here,” he said.

“We’ve got some things to work out on it, but we’re committed to each other, and I know they will be generous,” he said.

Jischke said he hopes he leaves as his legacy at Iowa State “an unmistakable commitment to get better.”

“I have said it more times that anyone can count, and to some it’s become a mantra, maybe a clich‚, that we want to become the best land-grant university in the country,” he said.

He said he has no major regrets on decisions made in his nine and a half years as ISU president.

“There’s one football game where I wish we had gone for the end zone rather than a field goal,” Jischke joked.

Jischke though, will not be here to witness the completion of the Reiman Gardens project, the new Plant Sciences building or the new College of Business building, but he is confident they will be successful.

“The work of a great university is never finished. That is part of the magic of these institutions. They grow and develop and respond and adapt and meet new needs,” Jischke said. “So there will always be projects to do and to complete.”

Jischke said he will miss the ISU community when he goes to Purdue.

“The hardest part of [leaving] is the people. [Wife Patty and I] have made hundreds, thousands of friends inside the university and our student body, in the faculty and staff, in the administration. I have worked very, very hard for nine and a half years with some amazingly talented people,” he said. “And there are tens of thousands of alumni and friends that love this place, and we have become very close to them.”

Jischke said he will continue to act as president of Iowa State until midnight Aug. 13, after which an interim president will be appointed. Although Jischke said he has no input on who will be chosen as interim president, he hopes to work with that person before his departure.

“It’s a very important appointment, and I hope it is made in a timely way so that whoever that person is can spend some time with me and that this is a smooth and seamless transition so the university doesn’t miss a step,” he said.

Jischke said he received a letter from Purdue in September asking him to be a part of the school’s search.

“I wrote back to them politely saying, ‘Thanks but no thanks. I have a great job at Iowa State, and I’m not interested,'” he said.

The chairman of the Board of Trustees at Purdue called a few months later inviting Jischke to come to the university for a visit. Jischke again declined. It was only when the chairman called the third time that Jischke agreed to fly to Indiana to meet with members of the Board of Trustees.

“It’s only in the last couple of weeks that it became clear that they were seriously interested, and we had a number of discussions where we talked about the specifics of why they were interested in me, what they thought the job was, and it became more and more interesting and more and more compelling,” he said.

Many universities over the years have approached Jischke about new positions, he said.

“I think it’s pretty accurate that I have had a formal inquiry about another presidency every year I’ve been here,” he said. “My name gets bandied about a lot, and I, frankly, haven’t pursued them.”

Various factors influenced his decision to accept Purdue’s offer, Jischke said. First was the quality of Purdue’s academic programs. He was especially impressed by its accreditation report.

The persistence of the Board of Trustees in trying to interest Jischke in the job also impressed him.

“It was flattering, and I admire people who are persistent and who show their passion for something by their persistence,” he said.

Jischke also liked Purdue’s commitment to improvement. The final factor was that he and wife Patty thought it was time to move on.

“It’s timely for Patty and me,” he said. “We have been at Iowa State really for nine and a half years. … Our children are both gone now — we’re empty-nesters — and it’s sort of a time maybe for a new challenge.”