In an email to the Brown community this morning, President Ruth Simmons announced her plans to step down from the Brown Presidency at the end of the current academic year. Simmons, Brown’s 18th and the first female African-American president in the Ivy League, plans to officially cease her position in June 2012.

The impetus for Simmons’ resignation is unclear. In a mass email to the Brown community, she wrote that she “recently decided that this is the ideal time both for Brown and for me personally to begin the process of transitioning to new leadership.” Simmons went on to write that she plans to return to teaching at Brown as a professor in the departments of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies “after a leave, during which [she] will take up projects that have been on hold far too long.” Read more, including Simmons’ full email to the Brown community, after the jump.

Since she assumed the presidency in October 2001, she has implemented need-blind admission standards, raised over $1.6 billion, opened a new med school building in the Jewelry District, and enjoyed the revival of Brown University’s positioning in the national eye. Ruth has enjoyed a cult-like support for her position, often holding astronomical approval ratings due to her open office hours, her willingness to interact with students on a personal basis, and her general charisma.

Personally, Simmons’ own finances suggest shrewdness. According to the New York Times article published in 2010, Simmons “was paid $323,539 last year for her work on the board, and will soon leave her position at Goldman with stock that is currently worth about $4.3 million. That was on top of her salary at Brown, which was $576,000 this year.” Simmons also served on the boards of Texas Instruments and Pfizer but has since resigned.

Simmons was chosen by Time Magazine as America’s best college president in 2001 after only a year in office. A highly-decorated academic, she is considered to be one of the most powerful figures in the American political theatre, as indicated by U.S. News and World Report, which listed her among the top U.S. leaders in 2007. She currently serves as a member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, after a nomination from President Obama.