Jessica Tormey, chief of staff to UW System President Ray Cross and vice president of university relations, resigned after a citation for drunken driving.

“Ms. Tormey made a personal choice to leave the organization based upon a personal mistake and how media coverage of those decisions potentially reflected on the UW System,” UW System spokesperson Stephanie Marquis said in a statement.

Cross accepted Tormey’s resignation and made it effective Jan. 29.

Oct. 5, police pulled over Tormey in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and cited her for drunken driving, for which she plead no contest Jan. 11. She received an $866.50 fine and had her license revoked for six months. This was her first OWI.

UW System schools receive expanded access to opioid overdose reversal drug

Tormey started working for the UW System in 2007 in communications and external relations, according to Marquis. In 2013, she became assistant vice chancellor for external relations and in 2014 she became chief of staff.

As Cross works to determine who will fill her role, Office of Administration Vice President Rob Cramer will assist and manage Tormey’s team in the interim.

“Cramer has more than 20 years of experience in higher education and state government,” Marquis said.