Paul Voakes, the dean of the University of Colorado’s journalism school, announced today that he will step down from the post next summer.

The announcement arrives amid uncertainty about the future of CU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Voakes, who has tenure, plans to remain a faculty member.

The university, in August, announced that it would be taking the unprecedented steps to possibly close down CU’s traditional journalism school, citing budget cuts and a rapid evolution of media.

The “program discontinuance” process will allow CU to shut down the school, reform it or keep it the same. Simultaneously, an exploratory panel is working this semester to consider a new program for “information and communication technology.”

CU in 2003 named Voakes, who had been an associate professor at the Indiana University School of Journalism, dean of CU’s journalism school.

He also held academic posts at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Stanford University and the University of California in Berkeley. His professional experience include political reporting and editing jobs, working for the San Jose Mercury News, Peninsula Times Tribune and Palo Alto Times.