University of Memphis president Shirley Raines said Tuesday she has declined to be considered as a candidate for president at the University of Kentucky.

Raines, 65, is a former vice chancellor for academic services and dean of the college of education at UK. She was named president at Memphis in July 2001.

"I am honored to have been nominated for the presidency of the University of Kentucky, where I formerly served, but I want to stay at the University of Memphis," Raines said in a statement.

Anyone may nominate a candidate for the UK position. As of last Wednesday, there were more than 100 nominees.

"Kentucky is a great university," she said, "but so is the University of Memphis, and I want to continue as president of one of America's great metropolitan research universities."

Curt Guenther, a spokesman for the University of Memphis, said Raines would have nothing further to say on the subject.

UK president Lee T. Todd Jr. will retire from UK's presidency in June.