Morehouse College Provost Weldon Jackson has resigned and will step down Dec. 31, according to a note President Robert Franklin sent Monday.

Jackson will continue as "special assistant to the president" and assist with programs in Atlanta and southern California, Fraklin wrote in the letter obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Jackson returned to Morehouse in 2010, having worked there from 1985 to 1996.

Willis Sheftall, who previously served as senior vice president for academic affairs, becomes the interim provost on Jan. 1. A search committee will be formed for a new provost.