University of North Carolina Wilmington provost Denise Battles will leave the school at the end of spring semester to become president of the State University of New York at Geneseo, the two schools   announced Tuesday.

Her appointment by the SUNY Geneseo trustees is effective on or about July 1, according to a news release.

Battles has served as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNCW since 2012. Previously, she was the founding dean of the College of Natural and Health Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado.

This will be Battles’ first experience in a university’s top post. At SUNY Geneseo, she succeeds Christopher Dahl, who retired in the fall of 2013 after 20 years, the New York university's release stated.

Located in the upstate Finger Lakes region, SUNY Geneseo is considered the New York State system’s honors college, according to the school's website.

“During my visit in December, there was an undeniable feeling of coming home. It felt very familiar and welcoming," Battles, who is originally from a part of upstate New York about two hours from Geneseo, said in a statement.

Like UNCW, SUNY Geneseo is primarily an undergraduate institution, but is less than half UNCW’s size. Its full-time undergraduate enrollment is about 5,350; graduate students number about 100, according to its website. By contrast, UNCW has about 13,000 undergraduates and 1,600 graduate students.

“Although this is a tremendous loss for UNCW, I am supportive of Denise's decision,” UNCW interim chancellor Bill Sederburg said in a release from UNCW. “I know this is an excellent opportunity for her at a premier liberal arts college, and in her hometown region of Upstate New York, no less.”

Under her leadership at UNCW, Battles has overseen the growth of various academic programs, including the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' reaffirmation of accreditation, the development and implementation of ETEAL and its applied learning strategies, the establishment of the Office of Undergraduate Studies and review and progress of the UNCW mission statement update, the UNCW news release stated.

Battles earned a doctorate in geology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a bachelor's degree in geology from Colgate University, according to her UNCW online profile. She has authored numerous publications and currently serves as an editorial board member for the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.

UNCW's plans for an interim appointment and search for a permanent provost will be announced at a later time, according to university officials.