Former University of Massachusetts chancellor Robert Holub has accepted a position as an eminent scholar in German at Ohio State University.

“After spending so much time in administration, I felt it was time to get back to what first attracted me to academia: teaching and research,” Holub said in a press release issued by the school.

Holub, who could not be reached for comment, will spend time working on a book about the theories of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

“I have about two-thirds of a book completed in my computer on Nietzsche and the social, political, and scientific discourses of the nineteenth century, and I am eager to do the remaining research and writing I need to finish the manuscript,” Holub said in the release.

Additionally, Holub will be teaching a graduate seminar on Nietzsche at the school this semester.

Already connected to the Ohio State campus, Holub worked there as a distinguished visiting professor in 1997. He was also previously acquainted with several of the professors in the German department – two of them worked with him on their thesis dissertations at University of California Berkeley.

Holub, who served as chancellor at UMass from August 2008 to July 2012, had previously served as the chairman of the German department at Berkley and as the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

He stepped down from his post at UMass after reports surfaced that a committee charged with evaluating his performance gave him a negative review.

Holub was also a finalist in the spring in a chancellor search at University of Hawaii Manoa. But he wasn’t chosen for the post.

Katie Landeck can be reached at [email protected].