Keith Morrison, Tyler School of Art’s dean, has announced his decision to leave the position yesterday.

The celebrated artist expressed his desire to devote more time to his art, a university statement said. Therese Dolan, a veteran of the university’s art history faculty for more than 25 years, has been named interim dean.

In 2006, Dolan was a recipient of Temple’s Great Teacher Award and is an active academic and author.

The New York City born art historian took the road to academia the hard way, raising two children on her own.

“Sometimes I thought nothing was getting done well because I was only giving a little bit of me to everything,” Dolan told The Temple News in a profile done for the university’s Honors Department last spring. “But my kids always came first.”

It is not immediately known when a permanent replacement for Morrison will be announced.