After more than a decade as dean of the University’s School of Nursing, Sandra Edwardson announced yesterday she will step down from her position.

Edwardson became dean of the school in 1991. When her resignation takes effect next summer, she will take a one-year administrative leave to work on other research and then return to the school in a faculty position.

Enrollment at the nursing school more than doubled during Edwardson’s tenure.

She is also credited with strengthening the school’s research programs to attract more faculty and students, most notably by establishing the Center for Child and Family Health Promotion Research.

Under Edwardson’s leadership, research funding for the school more than doubled, and the school developed national prominence, according to an Academic Health Center statement.