This will be the last year Linda Flaherty-Goldsmith serves as the president of Birmingham-Southern College, she said in a statement sent to alumni Aug. 23.

Flaherty-Goldsmith said she is leaving due to some family medical conditions.

"There is so much excitement about everything happening that I considered staying longer than initially planned. The positive feedback from alumni I meet at events, the excitement of welcoming new students — as we'll do tomorrow —all make me want to stay," Flaherty-Goldsmith said. "But my own family needs me more than my BSC family does."

She said her 8-month-old grandson who lives in Peru had been in intensive care after being diagnosed with a serious heart condition. He lives in Peru with his parents and brother.

"I spent four weeks there this summer and I will need to be return intermittently, as he faces a lengthy recovery involving close monitoring by pediatric heart specialists in Lima, which requires my son and his family to relocate across the Andes to start a new life," Flaherty-Goldsmith said in a statement.

Flaherty-Goldsmith was appointed as the 15th president of the college in June 2016.

During her time as president, the college has added new majors, signed more articulation agreements, created new partnerships and re-examined the school's curriculum. The college had a record number of transfer students this year.

The board has been informed of her plans to step down at the end of the school year. The board will announce a search committee in the coming weeks.

"I am confident that our beloved college will find an impressive leader to continue the work we have started," she said.