By Bill Forry and Jim O'Sullivan

UMass-Boston Chancellor Jo Ann Gora ended months of speculation by accepting the presidency at Ball State University in Indiana, leaving behind the University of Massachusetts at Boston, where she oversaw academic progress and the opening of a sprawling campus center, but butted heads with community groups and elected officials over the notion of building student dormitories on the Columbia Point campus.

Gora formally signed on with Ball State on Tuesday, and will remain in her UMass post through July, according to UMass officials. They said an interim chancellor is expected to be appointed soon, with a broad search casting the net for a new leader.

Rumors of Gora's departure had circulated for several months, intensifying last month when she interviewed for the presidency at Lewis and Clark College.

Gora suffered a defeat last year when efforts to construct student residences on the Columbia Point campus were blocked by community resistance. Since its inception in 1964, the school has catered to commuter students seeking moderately-priced higher education, and Dorchester activists and elected officials claimed dormitories would distort the school's mission.

The board of trustees had commissioned a review of Gora's performance, which was wrapping up in the next few weeks, UMass officials said.

In a written statement released by the president's office, Grace Fey, the board's chairwoman, said Gora "brought determined, creative leadership to our UMass-Boston campus. She inspired the campus to aim higher and achieve more."

UMass President Jack Wilson, who will oversee the first major personnel decision of his tenure, which began after he replaced ousted President William M. Bulger, issued a similar statement, praising Gora's "strong, enlightened leadership during her tenure at UMass-Boston."

"Chancellor Gora made progress and made a difference in the face of daunting fiscal challenges - challenges that she was able to face and surmount," Wilson said in the statement.

When the push for student residences incurred a rift between the university and its neighbors, much of the community anger focused on Gora, a blame that state Rep. Martin Walsh said was not completely deserved.

"I think Jo Ann Gora to some degree was kind of carrying the ball for the board of trustees," Walsh said after her decision became public. "I hope the board of trustees is honest with the next person they bring in, and not let them stand out on a ledge like they did with her."

Incorporating local sentiment into the search process would be vital, Walsh said, to appease nerves still raw in the neighborhood.

"I hope that UMass to some degree involves the community," said Walsh.

State Sen. Jack Hart, who had been one of Gora's most outspoken opponents, said her arrival in 2001 signaled "a refreshing change," and credited her with outreach efforts. But admiration for her waned, he said, during the dorm debate.

"There's a long way for them to go to repair the damage that was done by the dorm issue," said Phil Carver, president of the Pope's Hill Neighborhood Association and a vocal critic of the departing chancellor. "Having Gora out of the picture is a great first step because she was her own worst enemy when it came to community relations."

Carver, who had blasted Gora's refusal to name the new campus center after his uncle, the late state Sen. George "Gigi" Kenneally, suggested UMass turn to Boston residents for input into the hiring of a new chancellor. "Go to Dorchester, go to Roxbury, go to East Boston, and sit down and ask the people that are involved in the community: What are you looking for in a partner?"

Gora was in Muncie, Ind. on Tuesday night for the Ball State announcement, and could not be reached for comment before the Reporter went to press Wednesday.

Before accepting the UMass post in 2001, Gora served as provost at Old Dominion University for nine years.