Associate Dean of Freshmen D. E. Lorraine Sterritt will leave her post June 30 to become Dean of Freshmen in the University of Pennsylvania's College of Arts and Sciences, the Freshmen Dean's Office (FDO) announced yesterday.

Sterritt, who was assistant dean of freshmen from 1996 to 1998 and has served as associate dean for the past two years, said she is "very sorry to leave Harvard" but added that her Penn position is "a step up" for her career.

"It represents a very interesting opportunity to work on their advising program there," she said.

Sterritt said she will focus on first-year academic advising at Penn in addition to teaching French literature.

Sterritt will leave Harvard June 30 and begin her work at Penn the following day.

Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans said Sterritt's hiring is part of a major effort by Penn to reorganize its advising services over the past several months.

"I am delighted for Dean Sterritt that she will have the opportunity to shape a well-supported program of academic advising from its inception and know how lucky her new colleagues in Penn's College of Arts and Sciences will be to benefit from her talents and her dedication," Nathans wrote in an e-mail message.

Nathans said Sterritt has made "immense contributions" during her time at Harvard.

"With her departure, Harvard loses an administrator, teacher and colleague of extraordinary talents, dedication and good will," Nathans wrote.

Sterritt said her most important projects at Harvard have been contributing to the advanced standing program and building connections between first-years and academic departments.

"We've gotten a good response from the departments," she said.

Sterritt, who specializes in Renaissance French literature, has also taught courses in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures during her four-year tenure. This past fall she taught a course entitled "French 111: Comic Prose and Cultural Ideologies in 16th-Century France."

Sterritt said she will miss both her faculty colleagues and her students.

"I'll certainly miss the Harvard environment and the Boston location, which has been very pleasant," she said.

Nathan said the FDO has begun searching for a new associate dean and hopes to announce an appointment by early to mid-May.

The associate dean oversees the advising of students who are eligible for advanced standing and works closely with concentrations to ensure first-year students develop their academic plans in conjunction with faculty members, Nathans said.

"The position is a critically important one in the FDO, one which was redefined several years ago and one which Dean Sterritt has helped significantly to shape," Nathans wrote.

Nathans said candidates interviewed for Sterritt's post will meet with College officers, members of the Board of Freshman Advisers and a student search panel.

She is the second FDO administrator to announce her departure within a week. Assistant Dean of Freshmen Sarah B. Drummond will leave at the end of the semester.