Simon Collins is stepping down as dean of Parson's Fashion School after six years "to focus on my rapidly expanding professional practice," Collins announced in a formal memo forwarded to Fashionista. He will officially step down at the end of the fall semester in December.

"While I will miss every moment of what we have done here I feel the time is right for a new person to take this role and assume leadership of the School of Fashion," he wrote.

Collins has had a productive few years at Parsons, launching the school's MFA program in Fashion Design + Society and bringing it to New York Fashion Week as a runway show in fall 2012. He also brought LVMH and Kering in to host and sponsor design competitions for students. The annual Parsons Fashion Benefit brought in $2 million each year in scholarships during his tenure.

His passion for the school is clear in his letter:

These past six years have been the most rewarding and enjoyable of my professional life and I cannot begin to describe how much I have loved and learned throughout. There have been so many highs (plus one or two tricky moments) that I shall never cease to be amazed at how much joy and learning can be crammed into such a short period. I have been amazed, amused, delighted, shocked, humbled, impressed, disappointed, bemused, bedazzled, perplexed, educated and above all inspired by so many people, by so many of you, and I will be forever in your debt.

Prior to Parsons, Collins was creative director of Nike’s Asia-Pacific division, working on collaborations with Comme des Garçons and Issey Miyake. We'll be watching to see what he does next.