ST. PAUL — The University of Minnesota says Allen S. Levine is stepping down at the end of August as dean of its College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

Levine will return to the faculty and assume new academic responsibilities. An interim dean will be named soon, and a nationwide search to fill the permanent position will be launched later this summer.

The 63-year-old Levine is a professor in the departments of food science and nutrition, psychiatry, surgery and medicine. He has been dean of CFANS since the university created it via a merger of two of its colleges and one department in 2006.

University Provost Karen Hanson said Levine provided “exceptional leadership” as he led the merged college through a period of “remarkable transformation and achievement.”