Maureen Powers publicly announced her resignation as Dean of Students last week after serving in the post for only one year. Powers will officially leave Stanford on Sept. 14, but no solidified plan is currently in place for finding her replacement.

Powers — who came to Stanford from the City College of New York last September — cited personal reasons as the motivation for the departure, which she called “quite sudden.” According to Vice Provost for Student Affairs Greg Boardman, he and Powers first privately discussed her resignation only a few weeks ago.

“I’m leaving because I need to live closer to where my family is living — back east,” she said. “I’m going to be looking for [another position] closer to my family.”

While Powers was selected as Dean of Students after a five-month search, Boardman said the University’s course of action following her resignation is yet to be determined. Whether an interim structure will be created until a new Dean of Students is found or whether the University will find an immediate replacement is unknown.

“Right now I’m looking at all options,” Boardman said. “I’m going to be spending the next couple weeks — maybe longer — considering the current organizational structure and the needs of our students, our staff and the institution.”

Boardman said that determining how best to cope with Powers’ departure is a “top priority” in the coming weeks — particularly due to its unfortunate timing at the beginning of the academic year.

This is not the first time in recent history that the Dean of Students Office has faced a potential restructuring. Following former Dean of Students Marc Wais’ departure in 2003, the office was led by a series of interim and short-lived replacements, including Boardman himself.

“For me a critical piece of this is [finding] someone who can bring some stability to the organization,” Boardman said. “There have been five different structures and five different deans in the last five years, which doesn’t lend itself to what we really want.”

Though Powers’ departure marks yet another upheaval in the office, Boardman applauded her accomplishments during her short time at Stanford.

“She was not afraid to tackle an issue or policy that others might avoid, and was willing to take action to right a situation,” he said. “Dean Powers brings a breadth and depth of experience to her work as dean. She excels in situations of stress and conflict. It came down to appreciating the importance of her family commitment and obligations, and I don’t think that can be underestimated.”

Powers said she had “no complaints” about her job and enjoyed the efforts in which she was involved, such as helping to orchestrate the opening of Old Union, working with student government, and improving the operations of the Office of Judicial Affairs. She lamented, however, that she did not have the opportunity to finish up the “strategic planning effort” that aims to analyze the successes and failures of each department in the Dean of Students Office.

“I thoroughly enjoyed working with Stanford students,” she said. “They were interesting and intelligent, very committed and very diverse. I learned a great deal from them while I was here. I also appreciated working with various departments in the Dean of Students unit. I appreciate Boardman and the Provost and the President hiring me. I’m sorry that it turned out as it did, that I need to relocate to be nearer to my family at this time.”