McCormick told The Star-Ledger over the weekend that he plans to step down in June 2012 and take a year off. He plans to return to the faculty as a history professor.
The 63-year-old has served as head of the university since 2002.
He oversaw an historic restructuring of the colleges at the main campus of the university in New Brunswick and Piscataway but was sometimes criticized for not having the charisma needed to run the university.
Including campuses in Newark and Camden, the state's flagship public university has 57,000 students.
