Mellon Professor of the Social Sciences Simon M. Schama, a noted narrative historian, has announced to the History Department that he will leave Harvard for Columbia University this fall.

Schama told the department late last month that he will assume a professorship of the humanities at Columbia. His wife, Virginia E. Papaioannou, has accepted a tenured position at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Schama has not officially resigned his post at Harvard, however, having only taken a one-year leave of absence, according to Acting History Department Chair John Womack Jr.

Faculty members said yesterday Schama's departure will be a great loss for the department, but many expressed hope that he will return.

"He has genuine regrets about leaving," said Trumbull Professor of American History Donald Fleming. "But there's no question that he will be welcomed back if he wants to come."

"I am very sad indeed that Professor Schama is leaving," Dean of the Faculty Jeremy R. Knowles said last night. "But I do understand that the opportunity for Professor Papaiannou is a very exciting one."

"I'm still hoping he'll come back," said Professor of History James Hankins, who received his Ph.D. from Columbia and taught two years there. "He does like the Harvard community, and [Columbia is] not a fun place to work."

Womack said a professor as versatile and popular as Schama would not be easy to replace.

"In some ways if it's just for one year, it won't make much of a difference, but if he's leaving for good, it's a much bigger deal," said Acting Department Chair John Womack Jr. "There are not many people like that around."

But McLean Professor of Ancient and Modern History Steven Ozment said he was not optimistic about Schama's chances of returning to Harvard.

"It's probably a permanent move," Ozment said. "They're moving their family. And it's unusual for faculty to leave and come back...Most members [of the History Department] look on it as a decision."

Faculty members said Schama's expertise in narrative history and his wide range of interests, from the history of Danish culture to 20th century western European history, are an important asset to the department.

"There are few historians who move intellectually over as many subjects and parts of the world as Professor Schama has been able to do," Womack said.

Schama's wide recognition both within the department as well as among students attracts undergraduates and graduates to his history courses, professors said.

"He's unique," Ozment said. "He's bigger than the faculty to which he belongs."

But others said schama's decision to leave, whether permanent or not, will not worsen the department's decreasing popularity.

"We're losing a very gifted and unique person," said Ozment. "But I don't think the undergraduate department will be any weaker if he were to leave permanently, nor any stronger if he were to stay."

And Womack said the department has been searching for a few years to fill gaps in the areas of modern European studies.

"We won't get anybody who will be able to do what he's was able to do," Womack said. "But it won't be very long until we hire another professor in European history, and from the point of view of the department, we'll be fine."

Professors said there are more fundamental problems in the department that must be addressed in order to increase enrollment.

"There are other reasons that better explains it," Ozment said, referring to a precipitous drop in history concentrators in the last few years. "We're a department that's having some trouble. There's a problem of discipline and structure and I don't think we've done many necessary things yet."

Schama is author of several books, including the bestseller Citizens, an account of the French Revolution, and The Embarrassment of Riches, an examination of Golden Age Dutch culture and art