After 32 years at Northwestern, University Chaplain Timothy Stevens will retire in June, according to a Tuesday news release.

“He’s been a great comfort to campus whenever issues come up — a death or an accident or a loss,” vice president for student affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin said in the release. “He’s been at my side and at the side of the students.”

Stevens was first offered the position of acting chaplain in 1986 and took on the full-time position after holding the interim role for several months.

University President Morton Schapiro said Stevens’ work helped make Northwestern welcoming to people of all faiths.

“As the University Chaplain, Tim Stevens has been a spiritual beacon for Northwestern students, faculty and staff of all faiths for more than three decades,” Schapiro said in the release. “He has been a comforting presence in difficult times, a leader in joyous celebrations and a faithful steward of the religious experience at Northwestern.”

According to the release, Stevens and his wife lived on campus during his tenure as chaplain. In 1992, he also started organizing interfaith Spring Break trips to El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Haiti and Russia.

“I’m looking forward to whatever is next, and I am energized by that,” Stevens said in the release. “I’ve said to a few people, and I will probably say this to many more, ‘I’m not going to be the chaplain anymore, but I will continue to be your friend.’”

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