Nathans, who holds a doctorate in history from Johns Hopkins, has been at the helm of the FDO since 1992, when she came to Harvard from Duke University. Nathans also chairs the Board of Freshman Advisers and the Harvard College-University Health Services Committee.

Gross said in the statement that he will begin a search for her replacement this fall but would not comment further on Nathans’ departure and what it would mean for the future of the FDO.

Kirby, however, has said that the proposed changes to the first-year advising system and established affiliations with Houses do not necessarily signal change in the FDO’s role in the lives of first-years.

“They don’t automatically have an effect on the Freshman Dean’s Office in terms of its oversight of the Yard,” Kirby said last spring.

Gross said last spring that the FDO’s role as a “safety net” is an indispensable part of the first-year experience, but would not comment on what the future of the office would be.

But Wolcowitz said last spring that shifts in advising may entail changing the FDO as it currently stands.

“You can still have the FDO responsible for a set of buildings, for a set of common experiences in the beginning of freshman year,” Wolcowitz said. “The question is whether they will be responsible for freshman advising.”

Gross said in yesterday’s statement that Nathans “has brought energy, wisdom, and a high degree of professionalism to the Freshman Dean’s Office.”

“All of us on the faculty and in the administration have benefited from working with her, and generations of students have been guided by her leadership,” he added.

Doyle said that in working with Nathans while serving as a freshman adviser, he was “always impressed by her work and her dedication.”

A source close to Nathans said the former dean was unlikely to remain at Harvard after this year.

“Harvard can do what it wants,” Nathans said last spring. “Harvard will survive.”

—Staff writer Rebecca D. O’Brien can be reached at robrien@fas.harvard.edu.