The highest-ranking woman on Kansas University’s Lawrence campus announced Tuesday that she will step down from her administrative role and return to teaching.

Kathleen McCluskey-Fawcett, senior vice provost, has been at KU for nearly 23 years, coming to the university from West Virginia in 1985.

“It just seemed like it was time, after 25 years in administration, going back to my time as department chair at West Virginia,” she said. “I kind of want my life back.”

McCluskey-Fawcett plans to teach classes in the university’s honors program, including the honors child psychology class that she has continued to teach through her time as an administrator.

As senior vice provost, she said, she was most proud of her effort to create a centralized advising office, which she thinks better serves students.

“I really championed that idea for several years and finally wore (former provost) David Shulenburger down until he agreed to it,” she said.

McCluskey-Fawcett was inducted into KU’s Women’s Hall of Fame in 1987.