Cal Poly President Warren J. Baker will return to work today on a full-time basis after undergoing heart surgery nine days ago.

It was Baker's second coronary angioplasty in the past decade, he said.

The procedure involves widening blocked arteries so that blood can travel through the heart and deliver oxygen it needs to function properly. It is done to reduce the risk of a heart attack.

Baker's condition was not life-threatening, and he said Tuesday he's back to taking four-mile hikes. The latest surgery has not made him re-evaluate his retirement plans, he said, and it shouldn't affect his job performance.

But Baker for the first time alluded to a general time frame of when he plans to leave the school where he has been president for the past 24 years.

He plans to remain in the post at least through the completion of the $225 million Centennial Campaign fund-raising drive in December 2004. When asked if he would be president when the 2,700-bed Student Housing North campus project is finished in fall 2006, he said, "I don't know if I'll still be here when it comes online."

Baker, who will turn 65 in September, is one of the longest-tenured campus presidents in the nation. He and James Rosser -- president at California State University, Los Angeles -- were appointed in 1979 and are the longest-serving presidents in the 23-campus CSU system.

"There are many exciting things I still want to do," Baker said. "We had a new master plan revision two years ago, we're finishing the (fund-raising) campaign and the student housing project is moving along."

Baker consulted his doctor weeks ago after he felt pain when jogging. The president had some blockage in his arteries that supply blood to his heart muscle.

Arteries become partially blocked by a build-up of fat and cholesterol, called plaque. During an angioplasty, a small sausage-shaped balloon is inserted into the clogged artery and then inflated to press back the plaque, according to a Web site for the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.

Surgeons performed the angioplasty July 14 at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, where Baker remained for the night. He worked in his office for a half-day last Friday, but for the most part has rested and worked part-time at his campus home.

"I have more energy now than I had before" the surgery, Baker said.

He has "well below average" cholesterol readings and regularly lifts weights and jogs, he said.