CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Case Western Reserve University President Barbara Snyder will step down as president this fall to lead the Association of American Universities.

The Association of American Universities is a organization which represents 63 leading American research universities, including all of the Ivy League schools, Stanford and Johns Hopkins. CWRU is part of that association.

Snyder, the university’s first female president, was also provost and executive vice president at Ohio State University. A former CWRU law professor, she returned as president in July 2007 and led the university for more than a decade.

Read more about milestones from Snyder’s 12-year tenure.

“The opportunity to serve as Case Western Reserve’s president has been the greatest professional privilege of my life,” Snyder, 64, said in a university press release. “But at a time when higher education itself faces such profound challenges across so many fronts, I felt an obligation to answer my peers’ call to work on behalf of all of our institutions.”

When Snyder took the role as president in 2007, Plain Dealer reports described the university as “renowned but troubled.” The previous president launched an expensive plan to boost CWRU’s reputation that earned him a “no confidence" vote by the arts and sciences faculty.

Snyder inherited a $19 million deficit. The university developed a fiscal recovery plan, and Snyder told reporters at the time she planned to fix the deficit by 2010. It was eliminated by June 30, 2008.

Many of the iconic spaces on CWRU’s campus were created during Snyder’s tenure, including 11 renovation and building projects.

The Sears think[box], a university-housed makerspace, is now a hot-spot for start-up and research activity. The Temple-Tifereth Israel was renovated to become the Maltz Performing Arts Center, while maintaining religious services. The university built a new student union, Tinkham-Veale, which cost upwards of $50 million.

Most recently, CWRU partnered with the Cleveland Clinic on its new Health Education Campus, a huge glass building which will house medical, dental and nursing students.

The university also launched its “Forward Thinking” capital campaign, which started with a goal of $1 billion in 2011. It reached $1.04 billion in 2014, and the university announced in 2019 it surpassed $1.82 billion.

Snyder will leave by the end of fall semester 2020, but the timing depends on when officials find her successor. There will be updates on the search process by the end of this month.

Snyder’s new position will be based in Washington, D.C.