NASHVILLE (AP) — A small university in Nashville, Tennessee, said it has parted ways with its president of less than two years.

Fisk University's Board of Trustees did not give a reason for Vann R. Newkirk's departure in a statement Saturday.

The statement said that board Chairman Frank L. Sims will serve as acting president while a committee conducts a search for a permanent replacement. Sims also served as Fisk's interim president from 2015-17. He retired in 2008 from Cargill Inc.

Newkirk was named Fisk president in February 2021. Before that he served as provost and vice president for academic affairs for three years.

"The Board of Trustees is charged with ensuring that Fisk University continue to excel as a leading academic institution and that our future is defined by a shared vision and set of values," Sims said in a statement. "The Board unanimously agreed that the next chapter in the Fisk future calls for new leadership."