Jay Tontz, the most senior business school dean in the country and Cal State Hayward's own, will step down after leading one of the university's four colleges for the past 30 years.

As dean of Cal State Hayward's College of Business and Economics, Tontz, 65, is credited with nurturing the business degree programs from their infancy to the vibrant college of today.

The business college boasts full accreditation by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, master's programs in Europe and Asia, and the largest number of students among the campus's colleges.

"He supported new initiatives and innovations. Without his support, I couldn't say if any of these things would have happened," Cal State Hayward President Norma Rees said.

Tontz officially resigned and may retire, but he said he'll likely keep teaching at the Hayward campus.

Tontz said he's leaving the post at the end of the school year to make more money because his daughter will enroll at San Diego State University in the fall.

A tenured faculty member specializing in macroeconomics, deregulation and economic forecasting, Tontz could earn more by collecting retirement, Social Security and a teaching salary.

Tontz, recently recognized as the nation's most senior business school dean by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, was hired 34 years ago.

In 1973, Tontz took the helm of what was at the time the smallest of the university's four newly formed schools, now called colleges.

"In the 30 years, I accomplished major milestones in the history of the institution," he said. "It's time for someone who is younger and has more energy."

During his tenure, the business college became the first of the 23 California State Universities to establish an overseas Master of Business Administration program. Programs are now in Moscow, Vienna, Hong Kong, Beijing and Singapore, as well as partnerships in Brazil and other locations.

Also under Tontz, the university launched an uncommon program for senior managers called the Transnational Executive MBA. In addition, the fund raising for the first academic building in more than 30 years, the Business and Technology Center, is near completion. This building will be home to the business college, now scattered throughout the hilltop campus.

Tontz said he leaves the college in good shape -- with solid programs, good staff and grow-ing enrollment. The current college's associate dean, Sam Basu, who joined the management and finance department in 1988, will serve as interim dean. Rees said the university eventually will conduct a nationwide search for Tontz's successor.

And he will dodge the not-so-fun belt-tightening decisions of next year.

"There will be difficult choices, and I won't have to make them," Tontz said.