Teresa S. Soufas, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, resigned today “due to health reasons,” according to a memo obtained by The Temple News.

Soufas will take a sabbatical before returning to teach and pursue academic work involving Spanish literature. The memo did not specify the expected length of her time away from the university.

Temple will appoint an interim dean before starting a national search for a permanent replacement in the 2015-16 academic year.

“At a time when public universities and independent colleges are facing concerns including declining enrollments in the liberal arts, President Theobald and I look forward to working with the college to develop a model for success,” Provost Hai-Lung Dai wrote in the memo.

Soufas, who has served as dean of CLA since 2007, was previously a professor at Tulane University, where she taught in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for 21 years.

Steve Bohnel can be reached at sbohnel@gmail.com or on Twitter @Steve_Bohnel.