LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska President Hank Bounds is stepping down from his position and leaving the state late this summer, the university announced Monday.

Bounds, a Mississippi native, said in a statement that he plans to return to the South with his family after four years at the university’s helm.

“While rewarding, this job has also been personally demanding,” Bounds said. “I have done everything I could to serve our students and the people of Nebraska effectively. Now it’s time to recharge and reconnect with my family.”

Bounds gave no indication of what his next job might be. He previously served as commissioner of higher education for the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning.

Bounds became the University of Nebraska’s seventh president in April 2015, overseeing a campus with 52,000 students with campuses in Lincoln, Omaha, Kearney and Curtis. He replaced J.B. Milliken, who left to become chancellor of the City University of New York.

University of Nebraska Regents Chairman Tim Clare thanked Bounds for his service and said the regents were “despondent” to see him go. Clare said the regents tried to persuade Bounds to stay, but understood and appreciated his decision “to put family first.”

“He was a tireless leader who always put the university’s interests first,” Clare said. “Hank was the right person, at the right time, for our university, and we will forever be indebted for his great work.”

Regent Jim Pillen said Bounds’ departure will be a loss for the state, but thanked him for putting the university in a strong position for the future.

Under Bounds, student enrollment reached a record-high of 53,000 in 2017 and the university experienced record graduation rates. Bounds launched a “Commit to Complete” initiative in 2016 to help students graduate on time so they could join the workforce sooner with as little debt as possible.

The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission announced Monday that stores must destroy any alcohol in containers that came into physical contact with floodwater. Stores are forbidden from selling such products and can only claim losses through their insurance carrier.

The commission says it made the announcement after receiving numerous inquiries from retailers about what to do with their alcohol.

Wholesalers are also barred from picking up the product or reimbursing stores for their loss.

Lawmakers gave first-round approval Monday to a measure that would require coursework on student rights, understanding special needs students, teenage brain development and other relevant issues.

Administrators would need to undergo similar training in schools with a school resource officer.

The bill would also prohibit officers from becoming involved in school disciplinary matters.

Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, of Lincoln, says she introduced the bill out of concern that officers in some school had involved themselves in disciplinary matters.

The bill advanced 38-0 through the first of three required votes.

The Nebraska Public Power District declared a “notification of unusual event” March 15 at its Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville, about 59 miles (95.5 kilometers) south of Omaha. The notification is the lowest and least serious of four emergency classifications established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for nuclear power plants. The district says it means simply that: Conditions are not ordinary.

The district’s Mark Becker said Monday that the plant never stopped generating power, because the rising river water stopped 4 inches (10 centimeters) short of the level at which the reactor had to be shut down as a safety precaution.

The river’s rapid rise was fueled by snowmelt and storm runoff from a late-winter weather system.