School of Nursing and Health Studies Dean Bette Jacobs will step down at the end of the 2009-2010 academic year, according to an e-mail sent to faculty and staff by University President John J. DeGioia yesterday.

Jacobs, who has served as dean since 1999, will remain at Georgetown as a professor in the NHS and a distinguished scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, DeGioia said.

“Ten years is a long time for a dean to serve, and there is always a transition time,” Jacobs said. She said she finalized her decision to step down in the past month.

“I am deeply grateful to Bette for her longstanding dedication to our community,” DeGioia said in his e-mail.

The e-mail highlighted a number of developments overseen by Jacobs during her tenure, including a renovation of St. Mary’s Hall; the establishment of the Discovery Center, undergraduate laboratory space in Georgetown Medical Center; the creation of the O’Neill Institute; and the introduction of new NHS academic departments.

“Certainly I’ve crammed a lot into 10 years of activities,” Jacobs said.

Howard Federoff, the university’s executive vice president for health sciences, will participate in the organization of a search for the next NHS dean, the e-mail said. “