ITHACA, N.Y. -- Patsy Brannon, dean of the College of Human Ecology and professor of nutrition at Cornell University since 1999, today (July 29) announced her decision to return to teaching and research when her five-year term as dean ends May 30, 2004.

She is a member of the faculty in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. She will take a year's sabbatical and will return full time to the faculty July 1, 2005.

"It has been my great pleasure to serve as the dean of the college," Brannon said in an announcement to the college and its alumni. "The exceptional quality of the faculty, staff, students and alumni of the college is a key strength of the college and one that I particularly value."

She added, "During this next year, I look forward to working with the faculty, staff and students to enhance the college's outstanding educational, research and outreach/extension programming, implement the administrative changes required by workforce planning and design the replacement of north Martha Van Rensselaer Hall."

President Jeffrey Lehman said: "I regret that I will not have the opportunity to work directly with Dean Brannon for more than a year, but I am delighted that she has decided to pursue research and teaching in our Division of Nutrition. We are all indebted to her for her superb leadership during a difficult time in the college's history. Her ability to make difficult decisions when the north wing of Martha Van Rensselaer had to be closed helped faculty, staff and students adjust quickly to the loss of space and relocation of units."

Provost Biddy Martin said: "I am sorry that Dean Brannon will be stepping down as dean next year. She has brought vision and energy to the deanship, leading a planning exercise that resulted in the identification and development of important cross-departmental and cross-college initiatives in health, life course and genomics. Under her leadership, the college has enhanced its educational programs by emphasizing advising, undergraduate research and program revisions in at least one of its majors. During her first four years, the college recruited over 20 new faculty members and developed hiring plans designed to build strength in priority areas. I appreciate her contributions to the college and the university and look forward to working with her during the coming year on the projects she wishes to bring to completion."Martin said she will appoint a search committee before the beginning of the fall semester to begin a national search for Brannon's successor.

During Brannon's tenure as dean, the Department of Textiles and Apparel was named to the prestigious National Textile Center Consortium. Other highlights were the endowment of the dean's position by Rebecca Quinn Morgan, a 1960 graduate of the college, and her husband James C. Morgan, and the yearlong celebration in 2000 of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of home economics at Cornell. Brannon also oversaw the construction and opening in 2002 of a new west wing for Martha Van Rensselaer Hall (MVR), with a state-of-the-art human metabolic research unit, and the emergency relocation in 2001 of faculty and staff from MVR's north wing due to structural problems.

Brannon, a Cornell alumna, came to Cornell in June 1999 from the University of Maryland, where she was chair and professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science. Her specialty is the nutritional regulation of gene expression. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the American Foundation for Aging Research, the American Heart Association and other agencies.

Brannon earned a doctorate in nutritional biochemistry at Cornell in 1979 after completing a B.S. in 1973 and M.S. in 1975, both in food and nutritional sciences at Florida State University. She worked as a staff fellow for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for three years before receiving a teaching and research appointment at the University of Arizona, where she taught and established her research program from 1982 to 1994, becoming a full professor in 1992.

She serves as chair-elect of the national Board of Human Sciences. Her major professional appointments also have included service in NIH's Nutrition Study Section, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases special study section, the National Dairy Council's Scientific Advisory Board and the editorial boards of the Journal of Nutrition and theJournal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences .