While president of Haverford College, Stephen G. Emerson made time to teach, holding class in his living room, which had a movie projector and a screen that rolls down from the ceiling.
But just keeping a hand in teaching wasn't enough for Emerson, 57, who announced Friday that he would step down as president to do full-time teaching and research at Haverford. He has led the prestigious liberal arts college of 1,190 students on the Main Line for the last four years.
"I felt my students could use more of my time and I missed not being able to give it to them," Emerson said in an interview.
Emerson, a stem cell biologist, will take a research sabbatical for 2011-12, staying on campus to work with students in the lab. He then will return to a full-time faculty post the following year, he said.
The college is looking for an interim president while it launches a search for a permanent successor. Emerson said he would stay on until an interim was named.
Emerson is a 1974 graduate of Haverford who also has both a medical degree and a doctorate in cell biology and immunology from Yale University. He opened one of the nation's first undergraduate stem-cell biology labs at Haverford.
He has been spending much of his time in recent months preparing for the college's forthcoming fund-raising campaign, a spokesman said.
In his statement to the Haverford community on Friday, Emerson noted that the college expanded its tenured faculty and doubled research support for students and faculty. He also cited the college's financial-aid program, which replaced loans with grants to alleviate the burden on students.
He oversaw the groundbreaking of two new student residences, Haverford's first since 1968, the college said.
Before Haverford hired him in 2007, Emerson had been chief of the hematology-oncology division at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also established a stem cell research program.
Cathy Koshland, chair of Haverford's board of managers, declined to be interviewed. In a statement released by the college, she cited Emerson's "tireless dedication to helping the college grow in exciting new directions that nonetheless remain grounded in what is unique and treasured about Haverford."
Emerson said he was glad that he had the opportunity to serve as president.
"It's an extremely wonderful job. I loved it," he said. "But it makes the characterization 24/7 look like an understatement."
He will serve on the biology faculty.
