President Barack Obama walks with White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers at the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 13, 2009.

Washington ? White House social secretary Desiree Rogers is stepping down three months after an uninvited couple crashed the Obama administration’s first state dinner and she was heavily criticized for her role in allowing the embarrassing episode to happen.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama issued a statement Friday thanking their longtime friend from their days together in Chicago for the “terrific job she’s done” organizing more than 330 events in little more than a year in the post.

They indicated no reason for the departure, effective sometime next month after a transition period.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said a short time later that Rogers was neither forced out nor asked to leave. He also said he didn’t think the dustup over the state dinner factored into her decision.

“She’s decided it’s time to go back to doing other things that she loves,” Gibbs said.

Rogers’ handling of the Nov. 24 state dinner came under fire after a celebrity-seeking northern Virginia couple got into the exclusive South Lawn affair without a formal invitation, despite heavy White House security. As social secretary, Rogers was in charge of the event.

It was a huge embarrassment for the White House that Tareq and Michaele Salahi got into the dinner uninvited, let alone close enough to top officials to shake hands with Obama in the receiving line and take photos with Vice President Joe Biden, which they posted on Facebook.

Rogers later acknowledged not having staff from her office at security checkpoints to help identify guests, a departure from the practice in previous administrations.

Tall and glamorous, Rogers also was criticized for having a profile higher than the social secretaries before her. She gave interviews, appeared in glossy magazine photo spreads and dressed in high-end designer labels.

Rogers, 50, told the Chicago Sun-Times on Friday that she was leaving because she had achieved a major goal of the Obamas: turning the White House into the “people’s house” by opening it up to many of those who normally do not get to visit.