Joe Bankoff, who has served as chair of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs since 2012, will step down from that post at the end of the academic term, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Dean Jacqueline Royster said.

Bankoff, a longtime Atlanta civic leader and attorney, expects to remain with the school as a professor of the practice after the term ends.

A search for the new chair is under way. Anna Westerstahl Stenport, chair of the School of Modern Languages, is leading the search committee.

Royster praised Bankoff for having “built a forward-thinking spirit among his colleagues in the Sam Nunn School” in his nearly seven years leading the department.

“I am excited to see the results of the many projects Joe is pushing forward in his final year as chair,” Royster said. “He already has positioned us well for the future.”

Bankoff, who previously had a significant role in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and also served as president of the Woodruff Arts Center before joining the Georgia Institute of Technology, said he originally thought his appointment would last one or two years. He said the timing is now right for him to make way for a new chair.

“The faculty here now feels empowered, and we are moving forward and have a sense of momentum,” he said.

Bankoff said he has plenty to keep him busy until he steps down. Items on his to-do list include leading an effort to strengthen the school’s external advisory board, as well as making significant progress toward new graduate degrees the school hopes to offer in the next few years.

The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.