BAR HARBOR – College of the Atlantic President Dr. Steven Katona announced Friday that he will retire in 19 months, after the graduation of the Class of 2006.

Katona, 61, was among the first four faculty members hired by the college since its inception in 1972. He became the school’s fourth president in 1993, after the retirement of Dr. Louis Rabineau.

“I have had the privilege of working at this extraordinary institution for 33 years,” said Katona in a prepared statement. “Serving as its president has been one of the greatest honors of my life. The excitement and enthusiasm I first felt in 1972 as a founding faculty member have not dimmed, and I could not be more proud of the college’s progress and achievements since that time.”

During his tenure at the college, Katona has overseen the campus’s expansion and its deeper involvement with Mount Desert Island. Under Katona, the college became a steward of the Mount Desert Island Rock Light, now the home of the Edward McC. Blair Marine Research Center, and of the Great Duck Island Light.