Pamela Cytrynbaum, the founding director of the Justice Louis Brandeis Innocence Project, said she plans to step down from her position in June.The Innocence Project, a national organization with branches all over the country, investigates cases of possible wrongful conviction and aims to shed light on injustices in the criminal justice system. Cytrynbaum launched the journalism-based program in the Fall of 2005 at Brandeis' recently renamed Elaine and Gerald Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism.

Cytrynbaum, who worked at Brandeis for two years, said the University always knew she would not be staying long.

"The expectations were that I would explore models for innocence work at Brandeis, create a network in the legal and journalistic communities and launch an innocence project that would continue and thrive after my family and I returned home," she wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.

Cytrynbaum said she and her husband left behind personal and professional commitments in Oregon, where they lived before moving to the Boston area. Before coming to Brandeis, she taught at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. Cytrynbaum's husband is a tenured professor at Oregon State University. She said that she will teach journalism and continue work on the Innocence Project at another university when she returns to Oregon.

"I have known from the day I hired [Cytrynbaum] that her plan was to return to Oregon," Florence Graves, director of the Institute, wrote. "We were fortunate that she was able to stay for two years."

Provost Marty Krauss said the recent $5 million donation from Elaine and Gerald Schuster to the Institute will be helpful in the search process for Cytrynbaum's replacement, which Graves said she and Cytrynbaum will begin soon.

"Having the new grant will make [leading the Innocence Project] all the more attractive to a new person," Krauss said. "The quality of its work shows that it is a worthwhile project for the Institute to support."

The Project received a financial boost of $75,000 last August from the Oklahoma-based Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Krauss said Cytrynbaum's replacement should be someone who, like Cytrynbaum, will both teach journalism courses and direct the Project.

Because of Cytrynbaum, the Innocence Project has recently played a significant role in the academic landscape of the Journalism Program. Students in her "Investigating Justice" course last fall worked on the Innocence Project's cases, and an internship with the Innocence Project coupled with a weekly seminar, called "Justice Brandeis Innocence Project: Internship and Analysis," is being offered this semester.

"We like the contributions the Institute makes to the Journalism Program, and it has been a real goal of mine to make sure that these two institutes work together," Krauss said.

Nevertheless, as coordinating the Innocence Project is officially a staff position at Brandeis, and not a faculty role, Krauss said that teaching journalism courses will not be a requirement for Cytrynbaum's replacement.

"To help ease the transition this year, I have been working closely with [Cytrynbaum] on the Innocence Project," Graves said.

After serving as a program assistant at Northwestern University's Medill Innocence Project, Cytrynbaum was hired on a visiting basis by the Institute for the 2005-2006 academic year.

"[Cytrynbaum] has motivated students and made strong connections with the legal community, and we were very fortunate to have her here for the time that we did," Krauss said. "[Graves] has great contacts and a great network, so I am hopeful that she will find someone equally dynamic for that position."

Graves and Cytrynbaum declined multiple requests for either an in-person or phone interview. They would only comment via e-mail.