Katharine Bartlett, dean of Duke's School of Law, will step down from her post June 30, 2007, Provost Peter Lange announced Friday.
The decision coincides with the law school's completion of a five-year strategic plan. A search committee for a new dean will be announced within the next few weeks.
"Deanships have a kind of natural cycle," Bartlett said. "It seemed like a good time to be out looking for a new leader."
Since she became dean in 2000, Bartlett has overseen a number of building initiatives at the law school, including the renovation of the law library and classrooms, as well as a 30,000-square-foot addition for offices.
She has also been responsible for identifying and recruiting well-known faculty members from across the nation.
Although Bartlett said she has enjoyed her deanship, she is eager to return to teaching and research after a one-year sabbatical.
"[Duke] is a wonderful place to be in charge of right now, but it is not my lifelong ambition," she said.
Bartlett's peers praised her ability to foster collaboration among professors. John Wester, Law '72 and a member of the law school's Board of Visitors, said Bartlett's record of leadership has brought great credit to the institution.
"I am comforted that her stepping down from the deanship will allow for her resumption of her love for full-time teaching at the law school to which she means so much," Wester said.
Jerry Peppers, Law '71, attributes Bartlett's achievements to her "just do it" personality, noting that her "internal focus" brought the law school together.
"Dean Bartlett is a scholar and an academic," he said. "This is something she did because of her love for the law school."
Bartlett, however, credits timing for her successes.
"I came along at a time when the school was poised to have the resources and the fortuity to attract some great new faculty," she said. "I was in the right place at the right time."
Bartlett, who has been on the tenure-track at Duke since 1983, holds degrees from Wheaton College, Harvard University, and the University of California at Berkeley.
Prior to coming to Duke, she was a law clerk on the California Supreme Court and a legal services attorney in Oakland, California.
Although she will not serve on the search committee to find a new dean, Bartlett said she hopes the new dean will have an ambitious strategic plan and will work well with deans and professors both inside and outside the Duke community.
"I think the school needs a scholar of some national reputation who is institutionally minded and understands the needs and dynamics of a good, healthy, academic institution," she said.
Although Bartlett will serve for another 14 months, she said she thinks the law school will be ready for new leadership within a year.
"I feel that it will be the best year ever for this school," she said. "I'm excited to continue some things we've started together."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.