By Mary Whitfill, News Staff

Rejecting offers from Northeastern, Harvard and Suffolk universities, Mayor Thomas M. Menino announced Wednesday that his first job out of the public sector in almost 30 years will be at Boston University.

Menino will co-chair the school’s Initiative on Cities, a new project for the university that aims to join local governments from around the county in discussions of ideas and strategies. Menino could begin his new job as early as the spring 2014 semester.

“I can’t think of anybody better suited to lead an initiative like this than Mayor Menino,” BU President Robert A. Brown said at a press conference on Wednesday.

BU has offered Menino, who received an honorary degree from the school in 2001, a five-year contract as a professor of practice, but he does not plan to teach classes, according to a Boston Globe report. He will serve with co-chair Graham Wilson, head of the political science department at BU.

“Cities are the engines that drive regional growth,” Menino told BU on Tuesday. “Jobs, economic development, housing and education all contribute to their success or failure, but it’s the leadership of those cities that makes the difference. I believe that is why this Initiative on Cities and its priorities are so important. I am honored to have this opportunity to continue to help American cities thrive. Our country depends on their success, and I am confident that our best days are ahead.”

Martin Walsh will relieve Menino of his mayoral duties on Jan. 5, and following several weeks off, Menino is expected to start working Feb. 1. In addition to his new position at BU, Menino signed a contract this summer with publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to write memoirs about his time in office. The memoirs will be co-authored by Jack Beatty, senior editor of The Atlantic.

Menino has served as Boston’s mayor for 20 years, the longest mayoral stint in the city’s history, and was a member of the Boston City Council the nine years before, where he served as chairman of the City Council Finance Committee and Planning and Development Committee.

Currently, Menino serves as co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition he helped co-found in 2006. Menino also made headlines in the summer of 2012 when he vowed to stand against fast food chain Chick-fil-A coming to Boston due to its public opposition to same-sex marriage.

During his time as mayor, Menino worked to transform Boston Public Schools, which were awarded the Board Prize for Urban Education in 2006. According to his official biography by the City of Boston, Menino’s mayorship aimed to “create a continuum of educational opportunities for the city’s youth.”

“Cities are full of energy and promise these days, but they also are full of challenges,” Menino said on Wednesday. “So as I thought about my next chapter, I knew that I had to leave city office, but I could keep up the work on cities.”

BU President Robert Brown said that Menino’s salary would be on par with that of other professors, an average of $157,000 a year according to a Boston Globe report. His mayoral salary is $175,000.

Menino’s move echoes that of former governor Michael Dukakis, who went on to create the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern following his nine-year governorship. Additionally, late Boston mayor Kevin White served as the director of the Institute for Political Communication at BU for 18 years following his mayorship.

While the mayor’s office remained hushed during Menino’s decision-making, press secretary Dot Joyce confirmed that Menino would not be going to Harvard, despite receiving an honorary degree earlier this year. This statement came after speculations that the Mayor had a conflict of interests, due to the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s recent approval of Harvard’s multibillion-dollar expansion plan.

The Initiative on Cities will work in tandem with BU’s Fredrick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-range Future, according to the university. Together, the two programs will study governance and policy in areas of rapid urban growth.

“Cities are the cool new thing,” Menino said at the press conference. “I’m cool now.”