School of Media and Public Affairs Director Lee Huebner announced he will step down from the position in a letter to students posted on the SMPA Web site on Monday.

Before Huebner was hired in the summer of 2006, the SMPA had gone nearly five years without a permanent director. Huebner will step down when his three-year term expires in July. No successor was named in the resignation letter.

“This was a difficult decision, and I have made it with mixed emotions,” Huebner wrote.

The Wisconsin native is known as a passionate and friendly face in the department, sending personal e-mails to SMPA students and teaching a course that brings about 20 students to Paris each spring break.

In the letter, Huebner said he found watching the school grow satisfying but called the job’s administrative duties “very demanding.”

“At this point, I would like to focus more of my attention on teaching, as well as on research and writing work, including a couple of book projects and some media consulting opportunities, all of which seem particularly relevant at a time when media issues represent such an important social challenge,” he wrote.

Before joining the SMPA, Huebner taught journalism and communications studies at Northwestern University. He has also served as CEO of the International Herald Tribune and as a special assistant to the president of the United States during the Nixon administration.