Dr. Jack Shonkoff, who led the Heller School for Social Policy and Management to national prominence over his 11 years as dean, will resign from that position in August to pursue other projects, University officials announced this week. Shonkoff, 56, will remain a tenured faculty member here. His departure comes at a high-point for the 46-year-old school, which is ranked third among its peers in a national survey and is preparing for a $23 million expansion, scheduled to open this year.

Shonkoff has been on medical leave recovering from a kidney operation. He did not return calls to his home Monday.

According to Provost Marty Krauss, Shonkoff decided to leave his position after the research body he chairs, the National Scientific Council on The Developing Child, received a $750,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

The grant "is an extraordinary opportunity for Jack to lead a high-level effort to affect the lives of children in a positive way," Krauss said in a phone interview Saturday. "Jack is a very serious thinker. I'm very happy for him."

Shonkoff signed on to an extension of his deanship for another five years last spring. Krauss said the administration permitted Shonkoff's early resignation because the opportunity provided by the MacArthur money will require of Shonkoff more time and energy.

According to a MacArthur Foundation press release, the grant money, to be awarded over the next three years, will turn Shonkoff's council into a "leading resource in early child brain and behavior development for scientists, policymakers, child advocates, and others involved in the first years of a child's life."

Shonkoff is quoted in the press release describing the council's mission:

"While scientists have generated extensive new knowledge about child development, relatively little has changed in the public dialogue about how we care for our children," he said. "The Council is designed to close that gap by translating the science of early development into clear, actionable information."

Gillian Najarian, associate dean of the Heller School, has worked alongside Shonkoff since first arriving here 10 years ago. She said while the news of Shonkoff's resignation hasn't registered fully in the minds of the faculty and staff, "people are wondering what the future is going to hold."

"Jack set the school up to be in a good position. He has really brought the school together in pursuing a unified mission," Najarian said. "Change is unsettling, but I don't think that this has to be an undermining influence."

A nationwide search for a replacement is being led by the provost in conjunction with an academic recruiting firm. Krauss refused to comment on salary information and the type of candidate the search committee will be seeking but did say the Heller School was in a very competitive position to recruit a new dean.

"If we're really lucky we might have a new dean in place by Sept. 1," Krauss said.

Before coming to Brandeis in 1994, Shonkoff served as an academic pediatrician at the Boston Children's Hospital and then at Harvard Medical School. He went on to become chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

Shonkoff lives in Boston with his wife Fredi.