(CNN) -- President Barack Obama's top economic adviser is going back to Harvard University at year's end, the White House announced Tuesday after hints of a shakeup of the administration's team.
Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary who led Obama's National Economic Council, will return to academia at the end of 2010, the White House announced. In a written statement on the move, Obama praised Summers for his "brilliance, experience and judgment".
"Over the past two years, he has helped guide us from the depths of the worst recession since the 1930s to renewed growth," Obama said. "And while we have much work ahead to repair the damage done by the recession, we are on a better path thanks in no small measure to Larry's wise counsel".
Summers, who was Harvard's president from 2001 to 2006, said he will miss the White House and the "daily challenges of economic policymaking," but was looking forward to teaching again. His departure is the third high-profile exit from the president's economic team since the beginning of summer, and it comes as the administration grapples with poor reviews of its policies after a deep recession that has unemployment at nearly 10 percent.
Congressional elections are six weeks away, and a CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll conducted in early September found nearly 60 percent of Americans disapproved of the administration's handling of the economy. Fewer than 20 percent had a positive view of conditions, the survey found.
CNN
