Naomi Yavneh intends to step down from her position as the director of the honors program at Loyola, effective August 1st, 2018, according to an email sent to faculty by Maria Calzada, interim provost.

Yavneh will be on sabbatical for the 2018-2019 academic year and will then return to Loyola as a professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures.

Joseph Berendzen, associate professor of philosophy, has agreed to serve as interim director of honors in Yavneh’s place and the university will begin the search for a long-term honors director in the fall of 2019.

While on sabbatical, Yavneh will remain the president of the National Collegiate Honors Council and will continue her work with the Anne Frank Foundation as well as her work with honors colleges at Windesheim University and Hanze University in the Netherlands.

In the email, Calzada gave praise to the seven years that Yavneh devoted to Loyola.

“Under Dr. Yavneh’s leadership, the Honors Program has flourished. The program doubled in size even as the undergraduate student population decreased. The program’s diversity is also the envy of other universities,” Calzada said.