Blake Faulkner, president of the distance-learning campus and system vice president of international affairs at National American University, will step down Oct. 3 to become president of Pinnacle Career Institution System in Kansas City, Mo., in mid-October.

Faulkner in a release said the decision to leave was "difficult" because of "unbelievable commitment" of school personnel to help students.

Faulkner has been with NAU for almost 15 years in a variety of leadership positions, including a stint as president of the Rapid City campus.

NAU has offered distance-learning courses since 1996; now more than a third of the private university's 5,500 students take courses away from classrooms. The program also supports more than 3,000 students at NAU affiliated schools elsewhere, according to a school news release.

NAU administrators also cite Faulker's leadership for expanding the school's international reach to students and academic centers in more than seven countries.