Troy University’s chancellor will remain at the college through 2018 after a vote by the school’s Board of Trustees Tuesday.

Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr.’s contract was set to end on Sept. 30, 2014, but has been extended four more years due to Hawkins’ performance and the need for continuity of leadership at the university, according to trustees.

“The Board of Trustees endorses the outstanding job that Chancellor Hawkins has done for over 25 years and continues to do every day,” said Sen. Gerald Dial, president pro tempore of the Troy University Board of Trustees.

“He has improved the quality of academics, established dozens of new degree programs, internationalized the campus and elevated Trojan athletics to the Division I level. I am confident that the university will continue to grow and prosper under his leadership in the years to come.”

Hawkins has served as chancellor since 1989. Tuesday, Hawkins said he was “honored and humbled” by the trustees’ action.

“Troy University has been a labor of love for my wife Janice and me and we are grateful for the opportunity to keep working on behalf of this great university,” Hawkins said. “I believe the best is yet to be for Troy and I look forward to being a part of it.”

John Harrison, vice president pro tempore and chair of the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees, lauded Hawkins’ use of financial resources at the school.

During his time at the university, more than $250 million has been invested in capital improvements, including new academic buildings on all four of Troy’s Alabama campuses. Hawkins is also credited with serving as the catalyst for the school’s evolution to an international institution, attracting record numbers of students from other nations to the college’s main campus and establishing teaching sites around the world.